The Massachusetts jury in the murder trial for former New England Patriots standout Aaron Hernandez will enter its second full day of deliberations on Thursday.
The jury — seven women and five men — was dismissed for the day Wednesday. They had deliberated 9.5 hours since Tuesday in the case involving the killing of semi-pro player Odin Lloyd, who was boyfriend of the sister of Hernandez’s fiancee.
Before being dismissed Wednesday, the jury asked for a list of the more than 400 exhibits in the case and for clarification on one of the weapon possession charges against Hernandez.
Lloyd’s bullet-riddled body was found at a Massachusetts industrial park in June 2013.
In its largely circumstantial case, the prosecution portrayed Hernandez as cold, calculating and insecure — a man who believed others should be grateful for his attention, one capable of murdering someone for showing what he perceived as disrespect in the presence of others.
The state accused Hernandez, whose $40 million NFL contract was terminated after his arrest, of orchestrating the slaying less than one mile from the home the former player shared with his fiancee and their daughter.
Hernandez’s defense team implicated Hernandez’s co-defendants, Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz, who have pleaded not guilty and will be tried separately. For the first time, the defendant’s lawyers in closing arguments placed Hernandez at the scene of the shooting, but said he wasn’t involved.
“Did he make all the right decisions? No,” defense lawyer James Sultan said of his client. “He was a 23-year-old kid who witnessed something, committed by somebody he knew. He really didn’t know what to do, so he put one foot in front of another. Keep in mind, he’s not charged with accessory after the fact. … He’s charged with murder … and that he did not do.”
The defense described Wallace and Ortiz as a pair of drug dealers known to become crazed while on PCP, as men capable of killing someone in drug-induced fits of rage. The two men allegedly killed Lloyd, Sultan told the jury.
The prosecution said Wallace and Ortiz were longtime friends of Hernandez, who had complete control of them. In closing arguments, prosecutor William McCauley reminded the jury of testimony about Hernandez and his two friends sunbathing poolside hours after the slaying, drinking smoothies. Hernandez at times even left his then 8-month-old child with the two men that day.
“These guys … will do whatever he wants,” the prosecutor said of Hernandez.
The motive for the killing has never been clearly spelled out, but prosecutors said Lloyd might have done or said something that didn’t sit well with Hernandez. They said Hernandez rounded up some friends and killed Lloyd to settle the score. McCauley said a perceived slight that might seem insignificant to someone else could easily offend Hernandez
Evidence collected in Lloyd’s death investigation led to two additional murder charges against Hernandez in a separate case in Boston.
In that case, Hernandez is accused of shooting Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado, allegedly over a spilled drink at a nightclub.
The double shooting took place in July 2012, almost a year before Lloyd was killed. He will be tried in that case after the Lloyd trial. The jury has not heard about the double shooting.
