Former NFL star Aaron Hernandez made another appearance in a Massachusetts court on Friday to fight the murder charge he faces.
At stake: potentially damning evidence from exchanges he made in jail regarding the death of Odin Lloyd.
UPDATE: A judge rejected efforts by prosecutors to obtain Hernandez's jailhouse recordings.
Calling Friday's decision a "big win for Hernandez," NFL.com's Albert Breer reported the news. "Proof of the identity of the shooter is also not essential to proof that the defendant committed a murder," Breer wrote in quoting the judge.
Also from Breer's Twitter account: "Prosecution emphasized that it didn't have to decipher whether it was an individual or group act yet, just that Hernandez was a part of it."
However, the dismissal appears to have been a technicality. According to The Boston Globe: "Judge Susan Garsh said the request needed to be made in an affidavit, but the request by prosecutors in her court was not one."
Also according to the Globe, prosecutors will be allowed to renew their request but must do so in the proper manner. They must, Garsh said, show that they believed based on "reliable hearsay" that the recordings contained material that would address an issue relevant to the case.
MORE: Hearing video from NECN.com | Hernandez news archive
Prosecutors were seeking recordings of Hernandez's jailhouse phone calls in which he allegedly communicated about the case in "coded messages" and discussed his belief about his criminal liability. They also want a judge to order the Bristol County, Mass., sheriff to turn over records of visits related to Hernandez's jailhouse visitors.
Defense attorneys called the state's effort a "fishing expedition."
Hernandez, a former New England Patriots tight end, pleaded not guilty to murder in the death last summer of Lloyd, a 27-year-old Boston man who was dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancee.
Four others, including his fiancee and cousin, have been charged in the case.
Hernandez's lawyers fought the motion, and for good reason. Prosecutors, according to the Boston Herald, referenced "use of coded messages to communicate with persons outside the jail, related prior offenses, inculpatory denials of ownership of a vehicle connected with the investigation; the extent of his control over persons charged as accessories; other matters related to his co-defendants, including their whereabouts and likely criminal liability."
In addition to the June 17, 2012, slaying of Lloyd, Hernandez faces charges in two 2012 slayings in Boston and multiple other charges.
Lloyd, a semi-pro football player, died of at least five gunshot wounds. His body was found in an industrial area new the Hernandez home in suburban Boston.
The cousin, identified as Tanya Singleton, 36, is a co-defendant in the Lloyd slaying case. So is Shayanna Jenkins, 24, Hernandez's fiancée. Singleton was jailed in August before being released on bail this month.
Hernandez mouthed the words "I love you" to family members after he was brought into court, according to The Boston Globe.
— Contributing: The Associated Press