Judge orders DA to hand over Aaron Hernandez suicide notes to fiancee
— -- A Massachusetts judge has ordered a district attorney to hand over copies of three suicide notes left by Aaron Hernandez by the time the former? New England Patriots?tight end is buried.
An attorney for Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez, who was engaged to Aaron Hernandez and is the mother of his daughter, made the request in court Monday morning, hours before Hernandez's funeral in Bristol, Connecticut.
Hernandez, who was serving a life sentence in a 2013 murder, killed himself last week, just days after being acquitted in a 2012 double slaying.
Hernandez left three notes next to a Bible.
A lawyer for Jenkins-Hernandez said Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.'s office had refused to share the contents of the notes until the investigation into Hernandez's death is complete.
The judge said Early's office can redact information from the notes to protect the ongoing investigation.
Jenkins-Hernandez was among?50 mourners who attended the invitation-only funeral service.?
At the funeral home, two men in suits checked IDs as guests drove up the driveway. Police closed a street outside to traffic, and television news crews were stationed in a lot across the street. At one point, Hernandez's mother, Terri Hernandez, stepped out ahead of the service to smoke a cigarette on the funeral home's front porch.
The guests included twin NFL players Mike and Maurkice Pouncey; prominent medical examiner Dr. Michael Baden, whom Hernandez's family retained to perform an independent autopsy; and at least one of Hernandez's defense attorneys. The Boston Globe reported that free-agent linebacker Brandon Spikes also was in attendance.
The burial will be private at an undisclosed location, and the timing of that was unclear. Hernandez's family in a statement asked for privacy as they mourn and thanked people for offering condolences.
Hernandez hanged himself in his cell in a maximum-security prison in Massachusetts last Wednesday. He had just been acquitted of murder charges in the shooting deaths of two men in Boston in 2012.
Hernandez was in prison for the slaying of semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd, who was dating Jenkins-Hernandez's sister.
After the Massachusetts medical examiner ruled the death a suicide, Hernandez's brain was taken to Boston University, where scientists will study it for any signs of repeated trauma suffered during his years of playing football.
A judge on Friday ordered key evidence preserved, granting a request from Jenkins-Hernandez so the family can investigate the circumstances of his death.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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