Aaron Hernandez is engaged to his high school sweetheart Shayanna Jenkins, and the two have a 7-month-old daughter together. There has been some speculation that Hernandez could try to tie the knot with Jenkins before his trial for the murder of Odin Lloyd begins, which would mean she could not legally be forced to testify against him. But getting married while he’s in jail won’t be easy.
On Tuesday, Bristol County Sheriff Tomas M. Hodgson told USA Today Sports that he will do everything in his power to try to stop Hernandez from benefitting from the spousal privilege as long as he is in Bristol County jail.
“I don’t subscribe to that,” Hodgson said. “I feel that those rights are things that you access on the outside, if you’re a good citizen. We’ll do everything we can to not have that happen.”
[Related: Aaron Hernandez reportedly involved in domestic dispute last year]
Hernandez smiled and made a kissing gesture toward Jenkins during his arraignment last week. Prosecutors said they had begun speaking to Jenkins after Aaron’s arrest until she received a phone call from him telling her not to talk.
Without a wedding, the state reserves the right to call Jenkins as a witness to testify in the case. As Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk mentioned, no one knows what Jenkins is thinking. It’s possible that she may not want to marry Hernandez, so the idea of spousal privilege could be irrelevant. But if Jenkins and Hernandez are going to attempt to get hitched while he remains behind bars, the sheriff will have something to say about it.
