Both the prosecution and defense read their closing arguments in the Aaron Hernandez murder trial on Tuesday morning, and we finally got a clear picture of what the former NFL tight end’s lawyers have been working up to for months.
James Sultan, one of Hernandez’s attorneys, told the jury that Hernandez witnessed the murder of Odin Lloyd. Sultan implied that the trigger was pulled by either Ernest Wallace or Carlos Ortiz — the two other men who were allegedly at the scene the night Lloyd was killed.
Hernandez’s attorneys understood that there was too much evidence (you can read about some of it here) placing Hernandez at the scene of the crime to argue that he had absolutely nothing to do with Lloyd’s murder. Sultan basically admitted that Hernandez could have been convicted of being an accessory, but the former Patriots star is not being charged with that.
Sultan also used the fact that Hernandez allegedly witnessed the shooting to explain why Hernandez may have been seen carrying a gun around his basement. Perhaps Hernandez was paranoid and armed himself, Sultan suggested.
“Did he arm himself after what he just saw?” Sultan asked the jury.
In addition, Sultan asserted that the box Hernandez’s fiancee Shayanna Jenkins disposed of the day after Lloyd was killed may have been filled with “compressed marijuana.” Again, the argument is that Hernandez was paranoid after witnessing a murder and may have been reacting accordingly.
Previous testimony has indicated that Hernandez had multiple guns stashed around his home. Evidence has also suggested that Jenkins may not have been totally cooperative with authorities. After Tuesday, Hernandez’s fate — at least until his next murder trial — will rest in the jury’s hands.
