Former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez will be represented by a new high-profile team of lawyers to sort through his remaining legal matters.
Jose Baez, the noted Florida attorney who defended Casey Anthony in 2011, announced Wednesday he has been retained to serve as lead counsel for Hernandez during the former NFL star's double-homicide trial. Other members of Baez's group include Harvard Law professor Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., forensic science counsel Linda Kenney Baden and criminal defense attorney Alex Spiro, who has represented NBA players Thabo Sefolosha and J.R. Smith in recent cases.
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"Mr. Hernandez strongly maintains his innocence, and I plan to establish that before a jury of his peers," Baez said in a statement. "I have fully committed myself to ensuring a fair and just trial for Mr. Hernandez.
"We understand that numerous reports of our client's alleged activity have been published, but we ask the public to afford Mr. Hernandez the presumption of innocence and let the facts unfold in a court of law."
Hernandez is serving a life sentence at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, Mass., for the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd Jr.
Baez will take over Hernandez's pending appeal of the Lloyd verdict and represent him when he stands trial for the 2012 killings of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado.
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Hernandez has pleaded not guilty to charges he killed the men in a drive-by shooting after an encounter in a nightclub in Boston's South End. A date for the trial has not been set.
Hernandez also faces a witness intimidation charge for the 2013 non-fatal shooting of Alexander S. Bradley, described as a friend of Hernandez's who had made a remark about the double-murder, prosecutors say.
Hernandez spent millions on his previous legal team, which included a who's who list of Boston defense attorneys, led by James Sultan.
It's unclear what led Hernandez to request a change.
