Ex-Patriots Star Aaron Hernandez Charged with Murder
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Michael DeHoog/Sports Imagery/Getty Images(BRISTOL COUNTY, Mass.) — Former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez was charged with murder Wednesday for allegedly shooting and killing his friend, Odin Lloyd.
Hernandez, who was taken out of his house in handcuffs Wednesday morning, appeared in gym shorts and a white T-shirt during his arraignment in Bristol County district court. He remained silent as prosecutors read aloud the six charges he faces, including murder and weapons charges, and described the investigation into Lloyd’s death.
Prosecutors said they pieced together the night of Lloyd’s death using surveillance video culled from the area and cellphone records. Lloyd’s body was found June 17.
Prosecutors outlined a potential timeline of Hernandez’s allegedly driving to Lloyd’s home, picking him up, driving him back to North Attleboro, and allegedly firing two bullets at Lloyd, age 27.
Lloyd’s family members appeared in court, escorted by Massachusetts State Police.
“We ask for the defendant to be evaluated on the merits and on the strength of this case, and it is a circumstantial case, if the court separates the facts from the inferences, you’ll see it’s circumstantial,” defense attorney Harvey Steinberg said at the hearing. “The defendant has never been accused of a violent crime, he is a resident of North Attleboro, has been a resident of North Attleboro, lives in domestic partnership in that home with his small baby and his girlfriend, his fiancée, and deserves to be home on the conditions of bail. There is no risk of flight.”
Hernandez arrived in court in the back of a North Attleboro, Mass., police car. As he arrived, a fan waiting outside the courthouse shouted, “Free Aaron Hernandez.”
He was arrested earlier Wednesday, around 8:45 a.m., at his $1.7 million mansion in North Attleboro, Mass., about a mile away from where Lloyd’s body was found.
Shortly after the arrest, around 10:30 a.m., the Patriots announced they were releasing Hernandez from the team, calling it “the right thing to do.”
Both the NFL and Massachusetts state police told ABC News they had no comment on Hernandez’s arrest.
Hernandez has been at the center of the investigation since Lloyd’s body was found shot in the back of the head in a scrubby clearing of an industrial park roughly a mile from the ex-Patriots star’s $1.7 million mansion.
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