How Robert Kraft’s Testimony Sealed Aaron Hernandez’s Murder Trial Fate

Robert Kraft didn’t look comfortable last month while testifying in the Aaron Hernandez murder trial.

But what the New England Patriots owner said about his former tight end made a jury comfortable in convicting Hernandez of first-degree murder in the 2013 shooting death of Odin Lloyd.

Jurors told reporters Wednesday that Kraft saying Hernandez told him “he hoped that the time of the murder incident came out because he said he was in a club” was crucial in their decision to send the ex-Patriots to life in prison without parole.

“One part, for me, was Aaron’s alleged statement that … he was at a club at that time,” one juror said, via ProFootballTalk.com. “We still don’t know the exact time of Odin’s murder, specifically. So I don’t know how Aaron would have had that information two years ago. Even today, after medical examiners’ review, we still don’t have that information.”

It’s a strong impact from testimony that many questioned at the time. Some wondered what Kraft, whom prosecutors called to the stand March 31, possibly could provide in the case. It appears he provided the one sentence that slammed a prison door right in Hernandez’s face. Well, at least one of two sentences, anyway.

Hernandez might think about that as the Gillette Stadium crowd roar filters to Massachusetts Correctional Institution-Cedar Junction a short distance away.