An associate of former NFL player Aaron Hernandez pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a charge of murder in connection with the 2013 homicide of Odin Lloyd in Massachusetts – a death in which Hernandez and another man also are charged.
A judge ordered that Carlos Ortiz be held without bail following the plea in a Bristol County, Massachusetts, court.
Ortiz and fellow Hernandez associate Ernest Wallace were indicted on murder charges last month. Wallace pleaded not guilty earlier this month.
Authorities allege that Hernandez orchestrated the June shooting death of Lloyd in North Attleboro, and that Ortiz and Wallace were in a car with Hernandez that night.
Hernandez, 24, is charged with first-degree murder and weapons charges in the death of Lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-pro football player. Hernandez also was charged this month with two counts of first-degree murder in the July 2012 killings of two men in Boston.