Aaron Hernandez Murder Trial Opening Arguments Expected to Begin Tuesday
With jury selection moving swiftly along, opening statements in Aaron Hernandez’s murder trial are expected to begin on Tuesday, a Fall River judge said on Thursday.
Lawyers and Judge E. Susan Garsh have spent the week questioning prospective jurors in order to narrow the pool of people considered to be impartial. The jury pool is expected to be between 50 to 60 impartial jurors. Lawyers from each side will then winnow that pool down to the final 12 jurors and six alternates on Monday.
The former Patriots tight end faces murder and several gun charges in the shooting of Odin Lloyd, a 27-year-old semipro football player who was killed in an industrial park in North Attleboro in June of 2013. Hernandez has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The speed of jury selection in Hernandez’s trial contrasts the trial of accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, another high-profile case that began this month. U.S. Federal Court said on Thursday that the Tsarnaev trial’s initial target start date would be pushed back because of the extensive questioning of each juror.
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