@Override
    public boolean equals(Object o) {
      if (o instanceof ColumnTuple) {
        ColumnTuple other = (ColumnTuple) o;
        if (null == cf) {
          if (null != other.cf) {
            return false;
          }
        } else if (!cf.equals(other.cf)) {
          return false;
        }

        if (null == cq) {
          if (null != other.cq) {
            return false;
          }
        } else if (!cq.equals(other.cq)) {
          return false;
        }

        if (null == value) {
          if (null != other.value) {
            return false;
          }
        }

        return Arrays.equals(value, other.value);
      }

      return false;
    }
@return byte [] value for first tuple containing fam and qual or null if no match.
accumulo-handler/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/accumulo/AccumuloHiveRow.java