FALL RIVER, Mass.
Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez attends a pre-trial hearing in Fall River, Massachusetts December 22, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder
FALL RIVER, Mass. (Reuters) - Security footage shows former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez and two friends in a flurry of preparation hours before the death of an acquaintance he is charged with murdering, prosecutors said on Thursday as they opened their case against the one-time NFL star.
Hernandez, 25, was a rising star in the league with a $41 million contract when he was arrested in June 2013 and charged with the execution-style killing of semi-professional football player Odin Lloyd near his North Attleborough, Massachusetts, home in June 2013.
The trial at Fall River Superior Court in Fall River, Massachusetts, is the first of two murder trials Hernandez will face this year. He is also charged with fatally shooting two men outside a Boston nightclub in 2012.
In their opening statements, prosecutors said security video from the dozen cameras in Hernandez' home show the player arriving with a gun hours before going to pick up Lloyd in Boston, and later depict Hernandez and friends Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace carrying items from the basement to the trunk of a rental car.
"The cameras in the basement that night weren't recording," Assistant District Attorney Patrick Bomberg said, showing the jury clips from the video, including one of Hernandez standing in his living room with a pistol hours after the time of Lloyd's death. The pistol is similar to the one used to kill Lloyd, prosecutors contend. The trial begins just days before the Patriots, who dropped Hernandez hours after his arrest, are to face the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl.
Prosecutors contend that Hernandez, Ortiz and Wallace picked Lloyd up at his Boston home in the predawn hours of June 17, 2013, and drove him to an industrial park near his North Attleborough home where his bullet-riddled body was found later that day.
Hernandez has pleaded not guilty to all charges, which include illegal firearms possession as well as murder, and investigators have not recovered the gun they contend was used to murder Lloyd.
His attorneys are due to make their opening statements later on Thursday. The trial is expected to run six to 10 weeks.
Opening statements were delayed on Thursday after one juror was late due to the heavy snow left behind by this week's New England blizzard and another passed Associate Justice Susan Garsh a note, whose content she did not disclose but which prompted her to replace that juror.
Lloyd, 27, had been dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancée, Shayanna Jenkins, who was present in court on Thursday as was his mother, Terri Hernandez. Prosecutors contend that he and Hernandez argued after Lloyd socialized at a nightclub with people Hernandez disliked.
Hernandez, who was brought into the courtroom without handcuffs and sat quietly during the proceedings, faces firearms charges in addition to the murder count.
Prosecutors lost a few legal battles late last year, when Garsh ruled the jury would not hear of the last text messages Lloyd sent to his sister before his death, which included: "Did you see who I'm with," "NFL" and "just so you know."
Wallace and Ortiz were also charged in connection with Lloyd's slaying and will be tried separately. They have also pleaded not guilty.
Members of Lloyd's family were also present in court, sitting quietly in the front row and weeping as the surveillance video was shown.
(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Peter Cooney, Susan Heavey and Christian Plumb)
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