Aaron Hernandez Wants Jail Transfer for Safety Concerns

Lawyers for Aaron Hernandez want him transferred to a jail closer to Boston, saying they have concerns about his safety at the Bristol County Jail where he's currently being held on murder charges.

They argue that Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson has exploited the former New England Patriots tight end for publicity and has a conflict of interest that jeopardizes Hernandez's safety.

"This dynamic is simply untenable!" Hernandez's lawyers said in their court filing Thursday.

But Hodgson denied those allegations in an interview with New England Cable News.

"It's just absolutely not true. We're doing exactly what we would be doing with anyone else that's in our custody," he said.

Read more at NECN.

Hernandez's lawyers also argued in their motion that their client has had his right to privacy violated, and that because he is also charged in a separate murder case in Suffolk County, they currently have to drive too far back and forth to meet with him in jail.

Hernandez has pleaded not guilty to all three murders — in both last year's killing of semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd, with which he's charged in Bristol County, and a 2012 drive-by shooting that killed two men.

A tentative trial date of Oct. 6 has been set in the Lloyd murder case. The judge did not immediately rule this week on his motion to dismiss the murder charge.

In a separate case, Hernandez pleaded not guilty Monday to charges that he assaulted another inmate and threatened a guard and his family. He is accused of punching fellow inmate Andrew Booker while Booker was in handcuffs.

Hernandez is also charged in the 2012 drive-by shooting in Boston's Theater District that killed Daniel Abreu and Safiro Furtado while they were stopped at a red light, just after they had left the Cure Lounge.

Hernandez pleaded not guilty to those murders in May.

He is being held without bail.

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