Aaron Hernandez’s defense team did something surprising in its closing arguments last week in admitting the former New England Patriots tight end was at the scene of Odin Lloyd’s murder, and many wondered if that fact could do him in.
And it turns out it did.
After Hernandez was convicted of first-degree murder Wednesday, some members of the jury spoke to the media after the verdict. They said they were surprised Hernandez’s defense would concede that he witnessed the murder considering the evidence that put him there mostly was circumstantial.
“We were all shocked by that,” one juror said, per The Boston Globe.
The defense’s admission also solidified something else that had the jury’s attention: Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s testimony.
In trying to frame Hernandez as a confused 23-year-old who had just witnessed a murder, the defense only confirmed that the former NFL star lied to Kraft about being at the club when Lloyd was killed. And that lie already had raised red flags.
“One part, for me, was Aaron’s alleged statement that … he was at a club at that time,” one juror said, via ProFootballTalk. “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.”
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@MSNSports
