Report: Prosecutors want Aaron Hernandez charged for 2012 murders

A grand jury in Suffolk, Mass., is convening regarding an unsolved double murder from last July, and prosecutors are making the case that Aaron Hernandez should be charged in the murders, according to The Boston Globe.

After Hernandez was charged in the murder of 27-year-old Odin Lloyd last month, information concerning the former tight end’s troubled past emerged. Speculation began that Hernandez may have been connected to a drive-by shooting in the South End of Boston last July that left two men dead. Witnesses said the car driven by the perpetrators was a gray or silver SUV with Rhode Island plates. Reports later indicated that the car was rented in Hernandez’s name.

The Globe says prosecutors are not in a hurry to charge Hernandez for the deaths of Safiro Furtado and Daniel Abreu because the tight end is already being held in jail without bail. A motive for the murder has not been established. Furtado and Abreu worked together for a cleaning company, and their relatives say the men did not know Hernandez.

The Suffolk grand jury will hear evidence from the Suffolk County prosecutors and witnesses subpoenaed to testify. The grand jury needs to determine whether there is enough evidence to indict the defendant. A majority vote is required for indictment.

[Related: Aaron Hernandez investigated for 2007 Florida shooting]

If Hernandez is indicted, that means he could be facing murder charges in multiple cases at the same time. And if he is guilty, that means it is possible he played all last season for the New England Patriots after being part of a double murder.

See all the LBS coverage of the Aaron Hernandez murder case