By ERIKA NIEDOWSKI Associated Press FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) _ Bullets found in an apartment rented by ex-New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez and a magazine found in his Hummer were thrown out as evidence in his murder case Thursday by a judge who said state police didn’t demonstrate probable cause for the searches. Judge E. Susan Garsh said there were “absolutely no facts” linking Hernandez “in any way at all to the crime under investigation” in an affidavit supporting the warrant application to search his Franklin apartment. That warrant was for a cellphone belonging to co-defendant Carlos Ortiz, who was with Hernandez when Odin Lloyd was killed. Police applied for additional warrants after that first search, including one to look for ammunition. But the judge ruled that evidence gathered during the subsequent searches had to be thrown out because authorities hadn’t demonstrated probable cause for the first one. Authorities have said they never recovered the weapon used in Lloyd’s killing but believe it was a .45-caliber pistol. The items tossed out Thursday include .45-caliber bullets and a .45-caliber magazine. Hernandez, 24, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the June 2013 killing of Lloyd, a semi-professional football player […]
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