The maids who once cleaned the home of former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez told a grand jury that they had found several guns around his house, according to documents filed in Bristol County Court Thursday. Now the lawyer for Hernandez’s fiancee wants to know if the maids were induced to testify by the promise of visas to stay in the country.
The four maids, who used to clean Hernandez’s North Attleborough home once or twice a week, testified that they saw guns in at least three separate places: under the mattress of a guest bedroom; in the pocket of a pair of Hernandez’s pants that were left on the floor; and in one of his closet drawers.
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On one occasion, they grabbed a blanket or piece of clothing in a downstairs closet and touched what felt like a hidden gun, according to a motion filed on behalf of Shayanna Jenkins, Hernandez’s fiancee.
Prosecutors allege that Jenkins lied to the grand jury that eventually indicted Hernandez on a charge of first-degree murder in the slaying of 27-year-old Odin L. Lloyd of Boston in June 2013.
Jenkins has been charged with perjury for allegedly lying about the number of guns in the house, according to records filed Thursday. Jenkins allegedly said there was only one gun in the house. She has pleaded not guilty.
Jenkins’s lawyer, Janice Bassil, asked Judge E. Susan Garsh to order prosecutors to turn over any correspondence or documents that would suggest that the maids were threatened by prosecutors or induced in any way to testify against Jenkins.
She cited an e-mail from a lawyer for the maids, Christopher Furlong, sent to Bristol prosecutors in November 2013 that said the women’s cooperation in the case made them eligible for U Visas, which are usually reserved for victims of crime but can also be given to government witnesses.
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The visas grant temporary legal status and work eligibility in the United States.
During her grand jury testimony, Jenkins was asked if she had ever threatened to have the cleaning women deported.
Bassil said none of the women’s grand jury testimony or recorded police interviews indicates they had been threatened by Jenkins. Bassil also pointed out, in the court filing, that the women were not asked whether they ever told Jenkins that they had seen multiple guns.
“The testimony of these women is critical to the charges against the defendant,” Bassil wrote in a motion signed Thursday. “Their bias in favor of the government would be obvious if the government insisted in any manner in their obtaining legal status.”
In an interview Thursday, Furlong said he has left the firm that represented the women and has had no contact with them or Bristol prosecutors since February.
Furlong said that months ago he asked Bristol Assistant District Attorney William McCauley, one of the prosecutors in the case, for help with the women’s visa applications.
But McCauley said he did not want to do anything about the applications until the case was over, Furlong said.
“He would not make any promises,” Furlong said. “He said he wouldn’t until everything was done and then he would revisit — I think precisely because he never wanted to be accused of offering something in exchange for favorable testimony . . . Obviously, we were disappointed.”
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A lawyer at Furlong’s former firm, Perez Gardini, which specializes in immigration law, declined to comment on the case.
Maria Cramer can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @globemcramer.
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