National Football League

Trial date set for ex-Patriots star Hernandez in 2 slayings

Published Aug. 16, 2016 6:27 p.m. ET

foxsports

BOSTON (AP) A judge has set a trial date in February for former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez in the double murder case against him.

Judge Jeffrey Locke told Hernandez's lawyers on Tuesday to consider the date Feb. 13 ''very firm'' after they said they could not be ready for trial by the fall.

Hernandez already is serving a life sentence for the 2013 killing of Odin Lloyd.

He appeared in Suffolk Superior Court on Tuesday for the status hearing in the 2012 killings of two men outside a Boston nightclub. Hernandez is accused of opening fire on their car. He has pleaded not guilty.

Hernandez recently hired a new legal team, including Jose Baez, who successfully defended Casey Anthony in her 2011 trial in the death of her daughter.