Defense Now Acknowledges Hernandez Witnessed Murder
As the two sides made their closing arguments Tuesday, Aaron Hernandez’s defense team admitted something they had yet to acknowledge in the case: the former New England Patriot was present for the killing of Odin Lloyd.
“He was a 23-year-old kid, who witnessed something, a shocking killing committed by someone he knew,’’ Hernandez’s lawyer James Sultan said in his closing statement. “He didn’t know what to do.’’
Sultan and the rest of Hernandez’s defense team has suggested that co-defendants Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace carried out the murder, in a PCP-induced violent rage.
Prosecutors say Hernandez orchestrated Lloyd’s murder. They have presented surveillance footage and cell phone location data allegedly showing Hernandez and his co-defendants picking up Lloyd from his home in Dorchester and bringing him to a North Attleboro industrial park, where he was found dead on June 17, 2013, shot five times. The prosecution has also presented home security footage of Hernandez in the hours before and minutes after the murder allegedly holding a semi-automatic handgun.
Until this point in the trial, Hernandez’s lawyers had not conceded the former NFL tight end was present at the killing. However, they maintained Tuesday that he had no part in planning Lloyd’s murder.
Massachusetts state law states that an individual(s) can be convicted of a joint venture murder if they were present and knowingly assisted in a deliberate killing. Jurors do not necessarily have to conclude that Hernandez pulled the trigger to find him guilty; only that he participated with knowing intent.
Fingerprint evidence previously presented in court indicated Hernandez was in the driver’s seat of the car taken from Lloyd’s home to the industrial park where the killing allegedly took place.
Jury deliberations began Tuesday afternoon around 3 p.m. after they were instructed by Bristol Superior Court Judge E. Susan Garsh.
Hernandez faces first degree murder and illegal weapons charges. Jurors will deliberate from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day until a verdict is reached.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com