diff --git a/indra/preassembler/grounding_mapper/adeft.py b/indra/preassembler/grounding_mapper/adeft.py
index 8cf80dae64..e14200f455 100644
--- a/indra/preassembler/grounding_mapper/adeft.py
+++ b/indra/preassembler/grounding_mapper/adeft.py
@@ -48,8 +48,8 @@ def run_adeft_disambiguation(stmt, agent, idx):
         return
     # Initialize annotations if needed so Adeft predicted
     # probabilities can be added to Agent annotations
-    ev = stmt.evidence[0]
-    annots = ev.annotations
+    evs = stmt.evidence
+    annots = evs[0].annotations
     agent_txt = agent.db_refs['TEXT']
     if 'agents' in annots:
         if 'adeft' not in annots['agents']:
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ def run_adeft_disambiguation(stmt, agent, idx):
             GroundingMapper.standardize_agent_name(agent,
                                                    standardize_refs=True)
             annots['agents']['adeft'][idx] = disamb_scores
-    stmt.evidence[0] = ev
+    stmt.evidence = evs
 
 
 def _get_text_for_grounding(stmt, agent_text):