Jury Reaches Verdict in Former Patriot Aaron Hernandez Murder Trial: Guilty

Jury Reaches Verdict in Former Patriot Aaron Hernandez Murder Trial: Guilty

Jury Reaches Verdict in Former Patriot Aaron Hernandez Murder Trial: Guilty

A Boston jury has found former star of the New England Patriots, Aaron Hernandez, guilty on all charges, including First Degree Murder, with mitigating circumstances. Hernandez is convicted of murdering Odin Lloyd, his future brother-in-law, in 2013. The weapon used in the killing, a .45-caliber Glock, was never found. From the Boston Globe:

AaronProsecutors alleged that Hernandez and co-defendants Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace drove Lloyd to a North Attleboro industrial park, where they shot and killed him around 3:25 a.m.

During the trial, prosecutors showed surveillance video of Hernandez carrying a semi-automatic pistol a few minutes after the murder. A Glock representative testified that it was similar to the model used to kill Lloyd.

The prosecution said that Hernandez told his fiancée, Shayanna Jenkins, to dispose of the murder weapon the day after Lloyd’s body was found. Jenkins testified Hernandez told her to remove a box—which she said weighed 30 pounds and smelled like marijuana—from their basement. She said that she discarded the box in a “random” dumpster, but couldn’t remember where.

Later, a former friend of Hernandez testified that the ex-NFL player had a basement safe that contained a semi-automatic gun, marijuana and cash. For the first time in the trial, the defense acknowledged during closing statements that Hernandez did have a gun in the home security footage shown in court.

The defense also admitted in closing remarks that Hernandez was present at the crime scene and witnessed the murder, inferring he was not guily of the actual shooting. But prosecutors were able to convince the jury that Hernandez was the shooter.

 …multiple surveillance videos and fingerprint evidence indicated Hernandez was the driver of the car that took Lloyd from his Dorchester home to the industrial park where he was murdered. Home surveillance footage showed Hernandez, Ortiz, and Wallace returning to the former Patriot’s nearby home together minutes after the police say the killing occurred.

Prosecutors struggled to illustrate a clear motive, only pointing to witness testimony that Hernandez appeared angry with Lloyd at a club two nights before the murder, and that in another incident Hernandez remarked that Lloyd had acted “rude” while visiting the former Patriot’s home.

Here is AP’s raw footage of the verdict posted to YouTube this morning:

Hernandez faces a mandatory life sentence with no eligibility for parole, which will be imposed today. He will never again see the free light of day. May all involved find peace.

Victory Girls will update if further events arise.

UPDATE [8:40 Pacific]: The judge has just sentenced Hernandez to natural life, no parole, for the first-degree murder conviction, and two years on gun charges. His attorneys will appeal. Hernandez is also awaiting trial on two other murder charges in a drive-by double homicide. Why? Reportedly over a spilled drink.

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