Carlos Ortiz's Flip-Flopping Might Make It Harder To Convict Aaron Hernandez

The testimonies of Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace are crucial for the prosecution if it wants an airtight argument that Aaron Hernandez shot and killed Odin Lloyd. So far, Ortiz and Wallace stood by accounts that ended Hernandez pulling the trigger, but now, Ortiz is altering a big detail in his story, and that could potentially change the strength of the prosecution's case.

From the Boston Herald:

During the hearing in Fall River, Assistant District Attorney Patrick Bomberg also revealed new information about another man alleged to have been with Hernandez and Wallace on the night of Lloyd's killing.

Bomberg said the man, Carlos Ortiz, had told authorities at least a half-dozen times that both Hernandez and Wallace got out of a car along with Lloyd at the industrial park before he heard shots ring out.

Now, Bomberg said, Ortiz says he doesn't believe Wallace got out of the car.

Wallace's attorney, in turn, tried to call into question the credibility of Ortiz, who had told authorities he did not get out of the car on the night of the murder, according to court documents.

But Meier said a white towel that Ortiz allegedly can be seen wearing around his neck in video surveillance from before the killing was found within 5 feet of Lloyd's body.

If Ortiz can't get that rather important part straight, it could allow Hernandez's defense to pick at that discrepancy, and inevitably question other details of Ortiz's account. That error in detail won't find Hernandez innocent, but the prosecution's argument can't have any vagueness in the timeline of the night Lloyd died.

[ Boston Herald]

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