Former New England Patriots Aaron Hernandez went on trial on murder charges Thursday in Massachusetts, just days before his former teammates prepare to take on the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl.
Hernandez, 25, is charged with killing semiprofessional football player Odin Lloyd, 27, in June 2013. A teenage jogger found Lloyd’s bullet-ridden body located in an industrial park near Hernandez’s North Attleborough home. If convicted, Hernandez, who had a $40 million contract with the Patriots at the time, could get life in prison.
District Attorney Patrick Bomberg initiated the trial by laying out the physical evidence that prove Hernandez is guilty of the crime: footprints at the murder scene, DNA on a .45 caliber shell casing in the rented Nissan Altima, and surveillance footage. The before-and-after footage showed Lloyd getting into the car driven by Hernandez, and then the car returning with Lloyd no longer there.
“Only three people returned to Aaron Hernandez’s home. Aaron Hernandez, Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace,” Bomberg said.
The attorney also noted that a marijuana joint found near Lloyd’s body contained both Lloyd’s and Hernandez’s DNA.
“He orchestrated the killing, participated in the killing,” Bomberg said. “He covered up the killing.”
For the defense, Hernandez’s attorney Michael Fee argued that the investigation was “sloppy and unprofessional,” and that the former NFL player is an innocent man.
“We’re here because police and prosecutors targeted Aaron Hernandez from the very beginning,” Fee said. He explained that in June 2013, Hernandez had “the world at his feet” and that he “was planning his future, not a murder.”
Hernandez had no motive to kill Lloyd, who was dating the sister of his client’s fiancée, continued Fee. The victim was then described as one of Hernandez’s “partying pals” who was known as the “blunt master” for the marijuana cigars he often acquired for Hernandez.
Hernandez’s alleged accomplices – Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace – will be tried separately both charged with murder, as well.
