Aaron Hernandez charged with intimidating witness—by shooting him
Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez is charged with intimidating a witness in one of the most intimidating ways possible: by shooting him and leaving him to die.
Hernandez was already convicted April 15 for the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd, and is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley.
On Monday, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office added to his formidable legal troubles.
It accused Hernandez of shooting the witness at the side of a road in Riviera Beach, Fla., early on the morning Feb. 13, 2013, because the victim had made a remark about the 2012 killing of Daniel Abreu and Safiro Furtado, two men Hernandez has been charged with killing.
The man Hernandez is accused of shooting Feb. 13 survived. He was not identified Monday. But Alexander Bradley filed a civil suit against Hernandez in June 2013, alleging that Hernandez shot him in the face after an argument Feb. 13 after the two left a Miami strip club.
When Bradley was found by police, he refused to name the shooter, so the criminal investigation was closed. Hernandez was never criminally charged in the case in Florida.
But Massachusetts prosecutors managed to charge him under a law against injuring a witness with intent to impede a criminal investigation.
Bradley — who had previously been named the godfather to Hernandez’s daughter — had to undergo multiple facial surgeries and lost his right eye because of the shooting.
Hernandez faces two charges of first-degree murder for the killing of Abreu and Furtado, as well as three counts of attempted murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and unlawful possession of a firearm, in relation to their shootings.
Hernandez’s lawyers are scheduled to return to court May 21 for the murder case of Abreu and Furtado, but Hernandez is not expected to appear.
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