The Patriots will play in Superbowl Sunday, but Hernandez doesn’t have much to celebrate about. Prosecutors have charged him with murdering Lloyd, a 27-year-old semipro football player, who was dating the sister of Shayanna Jenkins, Hernandez’s fiancee. Prosecutors suspect that Lloyd was murdered because he knew too much about a murder in 2012 in Boston, when someone spilled a drink on Hernandez. However, the judge has ruled that prosecutors cannot inform the jury of this murder, which will go to trial later.
Prosecutors played security camera footage that prosecutors say show Lloyd being driven in a rental Nissan Altima by Hernandez. Another video from Hernandez’s home, was taken a while after Lloyd’s death, and shows the car without Lloyd. Prosecutors claim that Hernandez and two of his friends drove Lloyd to an industrial park, where they shot him. The two friends are also awaiting trial. Lloyd’s bullet-riddled body was found in the industrial park near the football player’s North Attleboro home, quite close to the Gillette Stadium.
Image from Hernandez’s surveillance cameras were also displayed, with Lloyd holding what prosecutors say is a gun. Prosecutors also said that a marijuana joint found near Lloyd’s corpse had Hernandez’s and Lloyd’s DNA imprint on it, while a bullet shell-casing found in the rental car also carried Hernandez’s DNA. The casing was fired from the same weapon found at the crime scene, a .45-caliber Glock. As the prosecutor showed photos of Lloyd’s body, his mother was overcome by tears and had to be led away.
Hernandez’s lawyer has defended his client’s innocence, saying that the athlete was being framed. Police had honed in on him early on, contrary to all evidence, after they had conducted a “sloppy and unprofessional” investigation. “Aaron never had a chance,” defense attorney Michael Fee said. “They locked on Aaron and they targeted him. The investigation was sloppy and unprofessional. What about the facts that showed Aaron’s innocence?” he added. “The evidence will show that they were ignored. Mere presence is not enough,” he told the jury. “We can’t be convicted of a crime just because we hang with the wrong people or are in the wrong place.”
Hernandez’s $40 million contract was cancelled by the Patriots shortly after his arrest in 2013. He could face life imprisonment if found guilty.
