Boston Globe: Hernandez charged with murder
ATTLEBORO — Former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez executed his acquaintance Odin L. Lloyd because Hernandez was upset that Lloyd had spoken at a Boston nightclub on June 14 with people Hernandez “had troubles with,” a prosecutor alleged today.
In a dramatic hearing in Attleboro District Court, the prosecutor said surveillance videos in Boston, in North Attleborough, and even in Hernandez’s own home linked him to the slaying several days later of Lloyd.
Lloyd was shot five times in a North Attleborough industrial park not far from Hernandez’s home. He raised his arm as he lay on the ground, in a desperate attempt to fend off the bullets, Bristol County prosecutor William McCauley said.
The prosecutor said Hernandez, who was accompanied by two men, had the means, motive, and opportunity to kill Lloyd and had been the prime mover in the crime. “He orchestrated his execution,’’ McCauley said. The prosecutor said Hernandez had spoken of no longer trusting Lloyd.
The identity of Hernandez’s two confederates was not disclosed at Hernandez’s arraignment.
Hernandez’s arraignment came after a week of suspense in which media had camped out in front of Hernandez’s home and followed his car by helicopter, in a futile search for details from tight-lipped law enforcement officials. Residents in Massachusetts and beyond have been riveted by the story of a highly paid professional athlete who may have squandered a bright future.
McCauley said Hernandez summoned his two friends, then drove to Fayston Street in Boston’s Dorchester section early on the morning of Monday, June 17, where Lloyd, a 27-year-old semipro football player, left his home, got in the car, and then rode south to North Attleborough.
Along the way, Lloyd alerted relatives in a text message, asking them, “Did you see who I am with?” After they asked who, he replied cryptically, “NFL,” the prosecutor said.
“Just so you know,’’ Lloyd added. It was the last text message he sent before he died, McCauley said.
Surveillance cameras in the North Attleborough industrial park where Lloyd was murdered captured the men arriving in the same silver Nissan that Lloyd had gotten into in Dorchester, the prosecutor said.
Once near a wooded area, Lloyd started climbing out of the car, and was shot once, which knocked him to the ground. As he lay there, he raised his arm and was shot multiple times. Five spent .45-caliber spent shell casings were later recovered, McCauley said.
When Hernandez returned home around 3:30 a.m. Monday, surveillance video at his house showed him walking through his house holding a pistol in his hand, the prosecutor said.
Not-guilty pleas were entered on his behalf. Judge Daniel J. O’Shea ordered Hernandez held without bail.
Hernandez attorney Michael Fee, arguing for bail, said the prosecution case was “circumstantial ... not strong.”
Hernandez also faces five illegal firearms charges.
The courtroom where Hernandez appeared was filled with people, including Lloyd’s mother and other relatives; Hernandez’s fiancee; and a large contingent of reporters. When prosecutors described Hernandez returning home with a gun in his hand, Lloyd’s mother, sobbing, had to leave the courtroom. Hernandez’s fiancee also left the courtroom in tears.
Hernandez, a Bristol, Conn., native, showed no obvious emotion as he stood, his hands cuffed in front of him. Defense attorney Fee and prominent defender James L. Sultan, who is also on the defense team, stood nearby.
After the arraignment, Fee spoke briefly with reporters, saying that he wants the issue of his client’s innocence resolved in the courtroom not in the media.
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http://www.bostonglobe.com/2013/06/2...2YP/story.html