As prosecutors continue to build a case for murder against Aaron Hernandez, they’ll be required to share a lot of the evidence with the public.
According to the Associated Press, a judge on Monday granted a request made by news organizations to lift an order sealing the search warrants issued in the case. The warrants will be released on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. ET, absent a challenge from lawyers for both sides, who wanted to keep the information secret.
Per CNN, the order encompasses the search warrants, the affidavits submitted to support the issuance of the warrants, and documents reflecting the evidence that was recovered.
So, basically, we’ll find out what the police wanted, why they wanted it, and what they found.
The information could be extensive. Most of the evidence disclosed, for example, in the investigation of customer fraud at Pilot Flying J came from the lengthy affidavit submitted in support of the request for search warrants.
It’s a fairly simple process. The Fourth Amendment protects us from unreasonable searches and seizures. (The page apparently fell out of the NSA’s copy of the Constitution.) To overcome that protection, the authorities must persuade a judge that probable cause exists to believe that evidence of a crime will be found during the search.
In this case, Hernandez’s house was searched multiple times, along with areas near his property. Also, police made multiple visits to a separate apartment he rented. At least one strip club in Providence was searched, along with the Connecticut home of Hernandez’s uncle.