Carlos Ortiz, who provided many details in Aaron Hernandez case, has extensive drug history

Frank Schwab
·NFL writer

When an affidavit was released in Florida that outlined what Carlos Ortiz told police about the killing of Odin Lloyd, it looked very similar to the timeline of events the prosecution presented during Aaron Hernandez's indictment.

[Related: Convicting Aaron Hernandez far from a slam dunk]

It's seems pretty clear that the prosecution will lean pretty heavily on Ortiz and whatever testimony he might provide during Hernandez's trial for first-degree murder. Ortiz told police that Hernandez told an associate, Ernest Wallace, that he fired the shots that killed Lloyd. The only problem with all of this is that Ortiz has quite a history with drugs.

Ortiz ended up giving police plenty of details about June 17, the day Lloyd was shot and killed, when he showed up for a meeting with his probation officer. That was just the first sign that he won't be a perfect witness. The rest of his record includes the fact that he "disclosed that he was abusing PCP, alcohol and THC daily," according to USA Today.

USA Today, citing an affidavit for Ortiz's arrest on a probation violation, said Ortiz disclosed those facts about his drug use during a May 21 meeting with his probation officer. He was ordered to enter an in-patient drug abuse program, USA Today said, but did not show up for a meeting two days later. He came up with various excuses over the next few weeks to not go to meetings, including that he lost his cell phone.

Ortiz tested positive for alcohol, cocaine, PCP and THC during a drug test on June 12.

The defense will obviously bring up Ortiz's history if he testifies. The prosecution still has a lot of circumstantial evidence independent of anything Ortiz has said that doesn't look good for Hernandez, but it also has a lot of information from a guy with a less-than-stellar background.

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