Still no verdict in Hernandez’s 2nd murder trial
Aaron Hernandez, the disgraced former NFL star who is a convicted murderer, blew a kiss to his four-year-old daughter at the Suffolk Co. Courthouse in Boston on April 12 of 2017.
Published on Thursday, 4/13/17, at 4:28 p.m. Eastern.
Jurors failed to reach a verdict in Aaron Hernandez’s double-murder trial Thursday at the Suffolk County Courthouse in Boston. The jury will reconvene Friday for a sixth day of deliberations.
Hernandez, the disgraced former tight end for the New England Patriots, is already serving a term of life without the possibility of parole for the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd, who was found dead by a jogger about a mile from Hernandez’s mansion in North Attleboro, Massachusetts. Hernandez was convicted of those charges nearly two years ago.
He is accused of killing Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado in a 2012 drive-by shooting. There isn’t much at stake here for Hernandez. The Commonwealth is simply trying to give the victims’ families closure and justice.
If you were unaware that this trial was even going on, you can’t be blamed. It hasn’t been given any run whatsoever by the national media with just one exception — Yahoo Sports’s Dan Wetzel.
Obviously, TV stations and newspapers in Boston are covering this saga just as they would any other murder trial in Beantown. But it is Wetzel alone representing the national media with boots on the ground.
Wetzel is the best sports writer in America and that fact isn’t open for debate. He has worked magic with his columns in this second trial just as he did the first time around for Hernandez, whose life was on the line in April of 2013 at Lloyd’s trial in Fall River, Mass.
On Wednesday, Hernandez’s ride-or-die fiancee Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez brought their four-year-old daughter to court for the first time.
When star witness Alexander Bradley walked into the court room each day to testify against Aaron Hernandez, at least one-half dozen law-enforcement officers were standing between the two individuals to prevent an altercation.
After allegedly being shot by Hernandez,
Bradley told the court he only wanted two things: to live and to take Mr. Hernandez’s life.
Several weeks ago, Hernandez’s former friend Alexander Bradley was the prosecution’s star witness. According to Bradley, the victims were shot by the former NFL player after Bradley drove up next to their car at a stop light. Hernandez is also charged with witness intimidation after allegedly shooting Bradley in the face after a long night of partying at Tootsie’s gentleman’s club in South Florida.
The prosecution claims Hernandez wanted Bradley dead since he was the only eye witness to the drive-by shooting of Furtado and De Abreu. Wetzel brilliantly explained the palpable tension between the former friends while Bradley was testifying in March.
Unless this jury becomes dead-locked and the judge has to declare a mistrial, we are likely going to get a verdict on Friday or early next week. The national media will probably take note of the result regardless of whether Hernandez gets convicted or not.
After that, let’s hope that we’ve heard the last of Hernandez, the 27-year-old murderer who threw so many lives into chaos with his cold-blooded actions. He had a loyal woman, a young daughter, a supportive older brother, a mansion at the age of 23, a contract with the Patriots worth $40 million and a future filled with multiple Super Bowl victories and with Canton, Ohio, written all over it.
Instead of living that life with all of its stardom and benefits, he chose to be a gangster who will spend decade after decade of his future locked up with some of the nation’s most dangerous criminals. Aaron Hernandez earned his fate. He deserves to be in prison for the rest of his natural-born life.
