by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright April 8, 2015
All Rights Reserved.

               Deliberating on the first-degree murder charges against 25-year-old former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, a Fox River, Mass. jury weighs the evidence against for former University of Florida football star who helped win Urban Meyer a BCS Championship in 2009.  Once Super Bowl Champion quarterback Tom Brady’s favorite tight ends with Rob Gronkowski, Hernandez NFL crashed-and-burned June 26, 2013 when North Atteborough police arrested him for the June 17, 2013 brutal gunshot murder of Odin Lloyd.  At the end of closing arguments, defense attorney James Sultan admitted Hernandez was present during the killing but was not the one that pulled the trigger.  “Did he make all the right decisions? No,” Sultan told the jury hoping to introduce just enough reasonable doubt to acquit the 25-year-old former football player of first-degree murder.

             Sultan told jurors in closing arguments that it was Hernandez’s buddies, Earnest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz, that pulled the trigger, shooting Lloyd June 17, 2013 six times.  “He was a 23-year-old kid who witnessed something, a shocking killing, committed by somebody he knew.  He really didn’t know what to do, so he just put one foot in front of the other,” said Sultan, asking jurors to believe that Hernandez was not the triggerman.  Assistant District Atty. William McCauley countered that Hernandez was the gunman and was the one who had the plan to kill Lloyd.  Sultan told jurors that McCauley never established a motive for killing Lloyd.  “Ask yourself what was the purpose of driving to that spot at the time,” McCauley told jurors.  “He was driving.  He’s the one who veered off the course to go down.  There was no other purpose to go down there,” said McCauley, referring to the remote murder scene.

             McCauley insisted that Hernandez had his fiancée Shayanna Jenkins give Wallace and Ortiz $500 each in what looked like a paid hit.  Since Atteborough law enforcement never found the murder weapon that was licensed to Hernandez, they weren’t able to perform the requisite DNA testing to determine who pulled the trigger.  Jurors saw a surveillance video showing Hernandez hanging around with Wallace and Ortiz after Lloyd’s murder.  “He’s laying around the pool, soaking up the sun, drinking up smoothies with his two confederates,” McCauley told jurors, raising doubts about Hernandez’s defense.  If his only defense is that he didn’t pull the trigger, he’s equally culpable for first-degree murder by paying Wallace and Ortiz as hit men.  Admitting Hernandez was at the scene of Lloyd’s murder raises more questions to jurors about his guilt for first-degree murder.

             Notorious killer Charles Manson was convicted Jan. 25, 1971 in Los Angeles Superior Court for directing the Tate-LaBianca murders, not pulling the trigger.  While Hernandez’s defense hoped to clear the defendant of first-degree murder, there’s ample precedent for conviction, especially if he paid Wallace and Ortiz to do the dirty work.  In his closing arguments, Sultan told jurors the prosecution did not establish a motive.  Superior Court Judge Susan Garsh told jurors before breaking into deliberations that the defense did not need to prove motive to convict Hernandez of first-degree murder.  “The investigation done in this case was incomplete, biased and inept.  That was not fair to Odin Lloyd, that was not fair of Aaron Hernandez, and it was not fair to you,” Sultan told the jurors.  “All that effort an this is all they could come up with.  What does that tell your?” Sultan said in closing arguments.

             Sultan hoped that admitting Hernandez was at the crime scene gave jurors enough reasonable doubt to acquit his client.  After hearing nothing of Hernandez’s proximity to the murder until closing arguments, jurors had to be dumbfounded hearing the 25-year-old former NFL star was at the crime scene.  Sultan emphasized that only circumstantial evidence tied Hernandez to Odin Lloyd’s murder.  After hearing Sultan admit Hernadez was there, it might be too damaging to ignore.  Asking jurors to ignore that Hernadez witnessed the murder with his weapon, then socialized with Wallace and Ortiz after the killing, could seal the deal on conviction. “The defense made the strategic decision that conceding that point [Hernandez at the crime scene] was a good tactical decision, and perhaps a way to gain some credibility with the jury,” said Cristopher Dearborn, Suffolk University Law professor.

             Hernandez’s defense Atty. James Sultan may have sealed Hernandez’s fate admitting in closing argument his client was at the crime scene.  Jurors must have been surprised to hear the admission, putting Hernandez dangerously close to the murder with a weapon licensed to him.  “No confession, no eyewitnesses, no murder weapons and no motive,” Sultan told the jurors, asking them to ignore the growing mountain of evidence tying Hernandez to Odin Lloyd’s death.  Whether or not Hernandez pulled the trigger, paying off Wallace and Ortiz should be reason enough to establish enough pre-meditation in jurors’ minds to convict him  for first-degree murder.  “They [prosecutors] tried to manufacture a really vague motive that doesn’t really ring true.  They tried to make it about his general volatility,” Sultan told jurors, hoping to create enough reasonable doubt to see Hernandez walk.

 About The Author