New York (AFP) – Lawyers for Aaron Hernandez on Monday urged a judge to dismiss the murder charge against the ex-NFL star in the killing of Odin Lloyd for lack of evidence, the Boston Globe reported.

In a pre-trial hearing before Judge E. Susan Garsh in Fall River, Massachusetts, attorney James Sultan said the case presented to the grand jury that indicted Hernandez was “woefully lacking”.

Garsh did not immediately rule on the motion to dismiss the murder charge, and a tentative trial date has been set for October 6.

Former New England Patriots tight end Hernandez pleaded not guilty in September of 2013 to murder and five gun-related charges in the June 2013 death of Lloyd.

Lloyd was a 27-year-old semi-pro football player whose bloodied body was found in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, less than a mile from Hernandez’s luxury home.

Prosecutors say Hernandez and two associates picked up Lloyd in Boston and drove him to the location where he was shot, and two other men are also facing murder charges in the case.

Hernandez was released by the Patriots hours after his arrest. He has since been charged with murder in the case of a 2012 drive-by shooting in Boston in which two men were killed.

Hernandez pleaded not guilty to those murders in May.

Hernandez was in court on Monday, and pleaded not guilty to charges of assault and battery and making threats over an incident in which he allegedly attacked a fellow inmate and threatened a guard while he was detained in a county jail in Dartmouth, Massachusetts.

Hernandez has been in jail without bail since June of last year.

Photo: Jared Wickerham via AFP