Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, who grew up in Bristol, was charged with murder Wednesday in what prosecutors called the "orchestrated execution" of a man whose last communication was a text to his sister letting her know he was with the now-former NFL star.
Hernandez, 23, who was released by the Patriots shortly after his arrest, was arraigned Wednesday and held without bail. He pleaded not guilty but did not speak during his court appearance. If convicted of first-degree murder, the former Bristol [Connecticut] Central High School player faces a life sentence without parole.
Hernandez is charged in the June 17 shooting death of Odin Lloyd, 27, of Dorchester, Mass. Lloyd was dating the sister of Hernandez's girlfriend.
Assistant District Attorney Willam McCauley told Judge Daniel O'Shea that police used a combination of cellphone records, text messages, surveillance video including some from the 14 cameras inside and around Hernandez's own home and Bubblicious bubble gum to piece together the last few hours of Lloyd's life and Hernandez's role in ending it.
The prosecutor recited a list of facts he said point to Hernandez's involvement, including Hernandez's anger toward the victim, the fact that videos show Hernandez's rented car in the area where the victim was shot and that Hernandez was seen in another video walking into his home with a gun after the homicide.
Lloyd, 27, was shot five times, including twice in the chest while he was on the ground, the prosecutor said. The shell casings were found and all matched one gun. The gun, however, has not been found.
According to McCauley, Lloyd's sister told investigators she saw her brother get into a silver Nissan Altima driven by Hernandez at about 2:30 a.m. on June 17. She told police there were three people in the car.
McCauley said the two other men in the car were friends of Hernandez's from Connecticut. He had texted one of them twice earlier in the night imploring him to get to his house.
Surveillance cameras outside Hernandez's house show his two friends arriving and the three of them leaving in the silver Altima at about 1:12 a.m., with Hernandez driving, said McCauley. They stopped at a gas station on Route 128 where Hernandez bought some blue Bubblicious cotton candy gum.
They then picked up Lloyd in Dorchester and started driving back toward North Attleborough. McCauley said that Hernandez had a conversation with Lloyd about some things that Lloyd had said at a nightclub on the previous Friday night. McCauley said that Hernandez told Lloyd he just "couldn't trust anyone anymore." McCauley did not say how police know about that conversation.
At 3:07 a.m., Lloyd texted his sister saying, "did you see who I am with." At 3:11 he texted "hello" and then at 3:19 his sister texted back "sorry my phone was dead."
At 3:22 a.m. Lloyd texted his sister "NFL." His final communication at 3:23, another text to his sister, said "just so you know."
At the same time Lloyd was sending the final message to his sister, Hernandez's car was seen on camera at the entrance to the industrial park where Lloyd's bullet-riddled body was found later that day, said McCauley.
The cameras show Hernandez's car going down the gravel road to the industrial area and then coming back out four minutes later, at 3:27 a.m. McCauley said witnesses working the third shift nearby heard gunshots, as many as five, at the same time Hernandez's car would have been at the park.
McCauley said state police collected shell casings from a .45-caliber handgun at the scene. Lloyd had been shot twice in the arm, once in the back and then twice in the chest. McCauley said the last two shots to the chest were fired at close range with the shooter likely standing over Lloyd's prone body.
Surveillance video from Hernandez's house shows him returning home in the Altima at 3:29 a.m. There were only three people in the car when it got back to the house. As he got out of the car and before he went into the house, Hernandez can be seen carrying a "large, black gun," the prosecutor said.
The victim's family wept as the prosecutor described Lloyd's last few minutes alive. Lloyd's mother left the courtroom sobbing after hearing McCauley's chilling description of a gunman standing over her son's body.
She walked past Shayanna Jenkins, Hernandez's fiancee, who was sitting in the back row. The two women did not talk to each other.
Jenkins sat in a back corner of the courtroom, with an unidentified man, wearing sunglasses for most of the arraignment. She broke down crying when her fiancι, the father of her 8-month-old baby, was refused bail.
Hernandez sought her out in the crowded courtroom as the hearing was ending. Hernandez appeared to be wiping away tears as the hearing ended and sheriff's came to take him to jail.
McCauley also went into details of how, he said, Hernandez tried to cover up the crime. He said police discovered that the six to eight hours of video surveillance around the time of the slaying from inside Hernandez's house was missing.
McCauley said that early the next morning, Hernandez returned the Altima to the rental car company and got a new car. Police later discovered that it had been cleaned at the rental car place and the garbage from the car had been thrown into a Dumpster.
Police went through the Dumpster and found one .45 shell casing that was matched to the others found at the crime scene, McCauley said. Next to the casing in the trash they found a piece of chewed cotton candy flavored Bubblicious gum.
McCauley told O'Shea, the judge, that Hernandez should be held without bail because he orchestrated Lloyd's execution.
"He made arrangements to meet with the victim. He orchestrated his execution. He entered his house with a gun and disposed of it,'' McCauley said.
Hernandez also faces five firearms charges for illegal possession of weapons and carrying a weapon without a license.
Michael Fee, Hernandez's attorney, called the state's case "circumstantial and weak" and called on O'Shea to ignore the media circus that the case had attracted and treat his client like any other defendant.
Fee argued that given the intense media attention the case has received "it would be practically impossible to flee with any type of success." Fee said that Hernandez has no criminal record, had never been accused of a violent crime and had an 8-month-old baby waiting for him at home.
But O'Shea sided with prosecutors and ordered Hernandez held without bail. At the end of Hernandez's court appearance the Lloyd family was led out the backdoor of the courthouse by police without commenting to the media throng waiting outside.
O'Shea set Hernandez's next court date for July 24. At Fee's urging, the judge issued a gag order prohibiting all parties from discussing the case and sealed the arrest affidavit.
After Hernandez's arrest, the Patriots announced they were releasing the star, who less than a year ago signed a five-year, $37.5 million contract extension.
"A young man was murdered last week and we extend our sympathies to the family and friends who mourn his loss. Words cannot express the disappointment we feel knowing that one of our players was arrested as a result of this investigation," the Patriots said in a statement announcing Hernandez's release from the team. "We realize that law enforcement investigations into this matter are ongoing. We support their efforts and respect the process. At this time, we believe this transaction is simply the right thing to do."
In another development Wednesday, Bristol police arrested Carlos A. Ortiz, 27, on a charge of being a fugitive from justice. Ortiz, of 78 Federal St., Apt. 6, Bristol, was being held, with bail set at $1.5 million, before he waived extradition to Massachusetts.
Police would not confirm whether the arrest is related to the investigation into Hernandez.
Court records indicate Ortiz has a record of larceny and criminal mischief convictions, and was on probation at the time of his arrest Wednesday afternoon. He was arraigned almost immediately at Superior Court in Bristol, before waiving extradition. Ortiz was due in court Wednesday on a probation violation charge, and a judge sealed all documents in both cases.
http://www.courant.com/news/connecti...303,full.story
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