The man who former football player Aaron Hernandez allegedly shot in the face in Florida will be asked to identify him in court as responsible in the murder of two men outside a Boston nightclub.
In a motion filed last week, prosecutors said they would seek the testimony of Alexander Bradley, who they previously said was with Hernandez during the July 2012 fatal drive-by shootings of Daniel de Abreu, 29, and Safiro Furtado, 28, in Boston’s South End.
The former New England Patriots star is scheduled to go to trial on Feb. 13 for the murders, a date set during a status hearing at Suffolk Superior Court on Tuesday.
According to prosecutors, de Abreu bumped into Hernandez at the club and spilled some of his drink, leading Hernandez to open fire on the BMW in which the two victims were riding. Worried Bradley might talk, Hernandez shot him in the face during a trip to Florida, prosecutors said in 2015.
“It’s obvious they had a prior relationship, so of course he knows what Aaron looks like,’’ defense attorney Jose Baez said outside the courtroom on Tuesday.
Hernandez is serving a life sentence without parole after he was found guilty in the June 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd, a conviction he is appealing. He has pleaded not guilty to the two counts of murder and weapons charges stemming from the nightclub incident.
The motion also said witnesses who saw Hernandez before or after, but not during, the Boston murders and Florida shooting can identify him in court. Assistant District Attorney Patrick Haggan said on Tuesday the prosecution has up to 300 possible witnesses they can call.
Prosecutors in the motion said they would not seek an in-court identification of Hernandez from witnesses inside the BMW at the time of the shooting.
“Although there was no police misconduct whatsoever, these eyewitnesses’ out of court identifications were made under circumstances that may fairly be considered suggestive,’’ the motion said, citing sensational media coverage of the Lloyd murder case.
Hernandez’s defense team, who originally asked for an initial trial date in the spring, has 30 days to reply to the prosecution’s motion.
“You don’t want witnesses’ testimony to be tainted in any way,’’ Baez said, referring to the witnesses in the BMW. “Unfortunately, those descriptions have changed.’’
Hernandez, wearing a gray pinstripe suit and blue shirt, sat at Tuesday’s hearing with his recently appointed legal team. This includes Baez, the defense lawyer who won an acquittal for Casey Anthony in Florida, Harvard Law professor Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., and Alex Spiro.
Baez misspoke while introducing himself to the judge on Tuesday, saying he represented “Aaron Rodriguez.’’ He later apologized after Hernandez laughed and informed him of the mistake.
Hernandez returns to court for a status hearing on Oct. 5.
Travis Andersen of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Miguel Otárola can be reached at miguel.otarola@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter at @motarola123.