Former Patriots player Aaron Hernandez scans the crowded Attleboro District courtroom as he is charged with murder. At right is his attorney, Michael Fee. Pool photo by Mike George / The Sun Chronicle
WPRO News and The Associated Press
ATTLEBORO, Mass. (AP) – Police have charged New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez with murder and weapons counts in connection with the slaying of a semi-pro football player whose body was found in an industrial park about a mile from Hernandez's home.
The charges were revealed Wednesday in Attleboro District Court after Hernandez was arrested at his sprawling North Attleborough home. Less than two hours after his arrest, the Patriots cut Hernandez from the team.
A judge ordered Hernandez held without bail pending further proceedings. Hernandez's attorney, Michael Fee, calls it a weak, circumstantial case.
"You will see that it is circumstantial, not strong," said Fee.
Authorities say Odin Lloyd was shot multiple times in the back and chest. They say Hernandez was upset with Lloyd after the two had a dispute at a nightclub a few days before.
"He (Hernandez) brought up the subject that he was mad about that incident in Boston," said Assistant District Attorney William McCauley during an extensive and detailed account of the dispute that the state alleges sparked the killing.
"He then drove the victim to the remote spot, then he orchestrated his (Llloyd's) execution, and that's what it was," McCauley told the court. He said police recovered numerous shell casings at the murder scene where Lloyd's body was discovered.
Video surveillance footage very closely tracked Hernandez' car from North Attleboro to Boston and Odin's Dorchester neighborhood and back again, he said, adding that people near the murder scene in North Attleboro heard what sounded like five gunshots.
"Mr. Lloyd was shot three times, which caused him to fall to the ground. The first shot was, in some ways a defensive type injury, putting his arm up. That bullet went right through his arm and into his right flank. As he tried to turn, he was shot in the back. And, as he fell on the ground and the defendant and his two confederates stood over him and delivered the two fatal shots, he actually was still alive because one of his arms moved up to try and cover up one of the first injuries, McCauley told the court.
As he began to detail the killing, Lloyd's mother was helped from the court by a family member.
It's not clear who investigators believe fired the shots.
