At a time when it appeared that Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez’s advisors had planned to concede the battle in the court of public opinion, his lawyer has broken a prior vow of silence.
Attorney Michael Fee has issued a statement attacking media reports indicating that a warrant has been issued for Hernandez’s arrest on obstruction of justice charges. Via Wesley Lowery of the Boston Globe, Fee said that Hernandez has been “the subject of a relentless flood of rumors, misinformation and false reports in the media.”
Fee added that the supposedly false reports “include repeated publication of supposedly confirmed report an arrest warrant had been issued for Aaron, a report exposed as untrue.”
“None of [the] false reports come from official sources and we appreciate the professionalism and restraint shown by the Bristol County DA,” Fee adds.
For starters, how does Fee know that the “false reports” aren’t coming from “official sources.” And precisely what is an “official source”?
While we have been careful to point out that media reports attributed to unnamed law-enforcement sources should be regarded with skepticism because the unnamed law-enforcement sources may not know the truth or may be selling an untrue version of it for strategic reasons, Fee has no way of knowing that “officials sources” (whatever they are) haven’t been spreading misinformation.
And if Fee is going to paint with a belated broad brush in disputing the various reports that have created an unflattering tapestry for Hernandez, he needs to back it up with concrete details. Does he deny that Hernandez destroyed his cell phone? Does he deny that Hernandez destroyed his home-surveillance system? Does he deny that Hernandez hired a cleaning crew to “scrub” his house the day after the murder of Odin Lloyd.
It’s not enough, at this stage of the game, to complain generally about untrue reports. Fee needs to list the reports he claims are false, and he needs to explain why they’re false.
But that won’t happen. Fee says he’ll have no further comment.
Until, of course, his next comment.