Attorneys spar during Aaron Hernandez civil hearing

NEW BEDFORD — A hearing Thursday in Aaron Hernandez’s wrongful death lawsuit in Bristol County turned uncivil, with attorneys sparring over each other’s professionalism. The hearing also brought about a revelation from Hernandez's civil attorney: The former Patriots tight end is running out of money.

Hernandez’s civil attorney, John D. Fitzpatrick, accused the attorneys representing Ursula Ward, the plaintiff and mother of Odin Lloyd, of misrepresenting facts, creating a media circus and trying to drag out the case.

“What plaintiff’s counsel should be interested in is serving the interests of his client, who is a tragically bereaved mother of the deceased in this case. Instead of doing that, we have a plaintiff’s counsel who holds press conferences, promising some kind of campaign to drag my client needlessly into court in chains for questioning, brilliant questioning no doubt, by plaintiff’s counsel. It is preposterous,” Fitzpatrick said.

A week after Hernandez’s conviction for first-degree murder, attorney Douglas Sheff held a press conference in Boston with Ward. Sheff promised to call Hernandez to the witness stand in civil court, where the former New England Patriots star tight end would have to testify because he could not invoke a Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Fitzpatrick accused the Sheff Law firm of being unnecessarily contentious and making unfounded allegations. Fitzpatrick also said Ward’s attorneys could bring the case to “an orderly resolution” by filing a summary judgement motion.

“Apparently plaintiff’s counsel doesn’t know the law, or at least is pretending that they don’t know the law on this particular point,” Fitzpatrick said.

Attorney Frank Federico, a partner at Sheff Law in Boston, took offense to Fitzpatrick’s criticisms.

“We’re representing a family that has suffered a tragic loss. They don’t need the lawyer for the person who murdered the person to tell me how to do my job or tell my firm how to do my job. We know how to do our job. We’re looking out for the Lloyd family’s best interests. That’s what we’re trying to do here,” Federico said.

“The allegations about distasteful, inappropriate comments that have been made by anyone in my office, I strongly deny that, for the record,” Federico added.

On the matter of assets, Fitzpatrick told the court that Hernandez’s only received a “fraction” of the $40 million contract he signed with the Patriots in August 2012. Fitzpatrick said Hernandez has had to pay for a “platoon of lawyers” relating to his legal expenses, as well as supporting Jenkins and his daughter.

“There’s nothing left here as a practical matter. There’s just nothing left here,” Fitzpatrick said.

Sheff said Thursday that Hernandez should "come clean" and subject himself to the formal discovery process in court to determine if his assets are really drained.

"If there is nothing left, then he should have absolutely no problem with doing that," Sheff said. "Why is (Hernandez's attorney) objecting to us asking questions about it? If there is nothing left, there should be nothing to hide. We've been frustrated at the response at our honest attempts to discover the truth about Mr. Hernandez's assets."

Sheff also defended his handling of the civil case.

"When one represents a convicted murderer, I guess all you can do is talk about anything other than the issue at hand," Sheff said. "If I represented a convicted killer, I might want to change the topic as well, but the truth of the matter is we've gone about every matter properly and respectfully. Nothing we've done has been anything other than appropriate."

The hearing at superior court in New Bedford was intended to detail arguments over a restraining order to prohibit Hernandez’s estate from selling the former New England Patriots star tight end’s Humvee, which turned up for sale at a Wrentham car dealership earlier this month.

Superior Court Judge Richard Moses gave both sides 60 days to reach an agreement on selling the Humvee, with the proceeds to be held by the court while the civil case is pending. Moses set a telephone status conference with the attorneys for July 20.

So far, the court has frozen only the proceeds from any sale of Hernandez’s 7,100-square-foot house in North Attleborough, which Hernandez purchased for $1.3 million in November 2012. Fitzpatrick said the house is in the process of being vacated, and Fitzpatrick told the court that Shayanna Jenkins, the mother of Hernandez’s young daughter, is having financial problems. Fitzpatrick did not say if Jenkins, who had a perjury case against her dismissed last week, is still living in the house or not.

Hernandez, 25, is serving a life sentence in state prison after being convicted April 15 of Lloyd’s murder in North Attleborough in June 2013. Hernandez will also stand trial in Boston, where he is charged with two counts of murder as the alleged gunman in a 2012 drive-by shooting that killed two men and left a third wounded.

Hernandez has also been sued by the families of the two Boston murder victims and Alexander Bradley, a former friend of Hernandez who alleges that Hernandez shot him in the face in February 2013 after Bradley made a remark about the Boston double homicide. Hernandez appeared Thursday in Suffolk Superior Court, where he pleaded not guilty to a witness intimidation charge stemming from the Bradley shooting.