Former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez is expected to appear in court Thursday to be arraigned on a witness intimidation charge.
It will be Hernandez's first public appearance since he was sentenced to life in prison for the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd.
Hernandez was indicted May 8 on a charge of witness intimidation for allegedly shooting a witness to the 2012 homicides of Daniel de Abreu and Safrio Furtado in Boston's South End. Hernandez was previously indicted on two counts of first-degree murder and assault and weapons charges in connection with the double murder.
The shooting victim has not been identified, but Hernandez's former friend Alexander Bradley filed a lawsuit against him saying that Hernandez shot him in the face following an argument at a Miami strip club.
Scheduling matters may also be addressed at Thursday's hearing, which is scheduled for 2 p.m. in Suffolk Superior Court.
In a separate hearing Thursday, Lloyd's mother, Ursula Ward, is due to go before a judge in New Bedford to ask for a preliminary injunction barring the sale of Hernandez's Hummer. Ward has sued Hernandez, and her lawyers have been trying to track down his assets. The Hummer turned up for sale in a used car lot this month.
Hernandez is currently being held in Souza-Baranowski prison in Shirley, Massachusetts, a maximum-security institution.
Local
According to a CNN report, Hernandez got in trouble this week after serving as a lookout for another inmate during a prison fight. Hernandez and the two inmates who fought are reportedly being disciplined.
