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Aaron Hernandez Murder Trial: Fiancée Shayanna Jenkins On Witness Stand Today?

By Cheryl Phillips
Published on: 04:03 PST, Feb 26, 2015

Former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez’s murder trial is in its 16th day, with no word on when or if his fiancée, Shayanna Jenkins, will take the stand. Missing from the courtroom for several days, Jenkins was back in court on Wednesday but was not present when court resumed on Thursday morning.

According to Sports Illustrated, Shayanna was granted immunity for her testimony in the Hernandez murder trial earlier in the month. Hernandez, 25, is charged with the June 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd, a 27-year-old man who was dating Shayanna Jenkins’ sister, Shaneah. He has been in jail since his arrest on June 26, 2013.

There is speculation that Shayanna stayed out of the courtroom earlier in the week when three women who did housekeeping in the Hernandez home were called to the witness stand. All three housekeepers testified that they found guns inside the ex-NFL star’s home.

The Boston Herald reports that housekeeper Carla Barbosa, who used an interpreter for much of her testimony, stated that she saw Shayanna place a large trash bag with unknown contents in the trunk of a car and asked Barbosa to move her car so she could leave.

Video footage taken from the home’s security system showed Jenkins putting a large, black bag in the trunk of a red car that reportedly belonged to her sister, Shaneah. According to the Herald, Barbosa’s testimony is being used to “bolster their assertion” that Shayanna “took steps to hide the missing murder weapon” — assumed to be a 45 caliber Glock.

ESPN reports that Jenkins received a text message from Hernandez the day after Lloyd’s murder, a message that prosecutors state was “coded” in an effort to get Shayanna to remove an important piece of evidence (a gun?) from the home.

“In that text message, Hernandez said to Shayanna, “Go in back of the screen in the movie room when u get home an there is the box avielle like to play with in the tub jus in case u were looking for it!!!! Member how u ruined that big tv lmao WAS JUST THINKIN about that lol wink wink love u TTYL…. K.”

The home surveillance video showed that a large object — possibly a box — was inside the black garbage bag Jenkins was carried out of the house, leading many who are following the trial to assume that she followed Hernandez’s text instructions and took vital evidence out of the house in the black bag.

If and when Shayanna Jenkins is called on the witness stand, she seems to be in a no-win situation — loyalty to Aaron vs. her freedom.

She previously told a grand jury that she couldn’t remember where she tossed the garbage bag, one of 29 lies that the prosecution states that she told under oath. If she repeats her “I can’t remember” grand jury testimony at the trial, it’s possible that she will face perjury charges for allegedly telling lies under oath.

Watch the Aaron Hernandez trial live streaming online here. This week, court is in session on Thursday, February 26 until approximately 4 p.m., and until 1 p.m. on Friday.

[Images: ABC, Twitter – Wild About Trial]

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