In early January, the fiancée, Shayanna Jenkins, met with Bristol County, Massachusetts, prosecutors in what court documents call an immunity meeting, but the results of that meeting are secret, even from the Hernandez defense team.
“It allows the prosecutor to force her to testify in front of the jury without taking the Fifth” (Amendment against self incrimination), CNN legal analyst Paul Callan said of the order. “If she lies, she can still be prosecuted for perjury because a grant of immunity never (immunizes) someone against committing perjury on the witness stand.”
Hernandez, the former tight end who once had a $40 million contract, has pleaded not guilty to orchestrating the death of Odin Lloyd. He has also pleaded not guilty to weapons charges.
His co-defendants, Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz, have also pleaded not guilty and will be tried separately.
Jenkins has been a regular at hearings for Hernandez. He has often been seen mouthing “I love you” to her.
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“Or the defense would convince them that she’s made such a sweet deal with the prosecution that she’s decided to lie to implicate her lover,” he added.
Callan suggested that if Jenkins is put on the stand as a prosecution witness and repeats her grand jury testimony that she threw out the item without knowing what was inside and can’t remember where she disposed of it, she could put herself in greater legal jeopardy. That’s because, Callan said, prosecutors could later contend at a perjury trial that she repeated an alleged lie under oath.
“It’s going to increase her guilt if the prosecutor pursues perjury charges,” Callan said.
CNN’s Ray Sanchez contributed to this report.
