Aaron Hernandez Criminal Case
Throughout his life, Aaron Hernandez had numerous encounters with the law, which started just a few months after he arrived in Florida as a pre-freshman. Hernandez had a history of taking offence at small slights, and he admitted that he grew jittery in nightclubs. He added that he thought individuals were seeking to physically challenge him and engage in combat.
Hernandez employed two of his Bristol-based acquaintances with prior criminal histories as his subordinates while he was a Patriot. Alexander S. Bradley, one of them, served as his narcotics dealer. Bradley’s other responsibilities as Hernandez’s aide included calming Hernandez down during outbursts of wrath and paranoia and getting weapons for him.
Hernandez’s fiancée Shayanna Jenkins was unaware that he owned a second flat. He frequently visited there to chain smoke marijuana. Hernandez admitted to his agent in 2012 that he gained respect from using guns. Hernandez was once questioned by Boston Police investigators outside a nearby bar, although it’s unclear what exactly happened.
Trouble in Gainesville
According to a police complaint in Gainesville, Florida, on April 28, 2007, a 17-year-old named Hernandez had two alcoholic beverages in a restaurant with Tim Tebow, refused to pay the check, and was led out by a staff member. Hernandez “sucker punched” the manager in the side of the head as he was leaving, rupturing his eardrum.
Police arrived at the scene at 1:17 a.m. Hernandez called the team’s unofficial defence counsel, Huntley Johnson, and Urban Meyer, the head coach, returned the call.
The police demanded to see Hernandez and his teammates right away, they informed Meyer’s personal assistant. Although detectives “continued pressuring coaches” to bring the players to the station, it took them four hours to show up. In the interim, Johnson, a lawyer who frequently represented athletes, met with the players. When Hernandez exercised his right to counsel and declined to speak to police, the other players cooperated with the authorities.
Despite Carson’s initial identification of Hernandez, several witnesses that evening said the shooter seemed to be a black male, maybe sporting cornrows. Carson changed his mind about the gunman matching Hernandez when Mullins re-interviewed him, admitting that he had never seen Hernandez at the scene but had assumed as much because “they had words earlier at the club.”
Additional Accusations
Hernandez was charged with murder for the shooting deaths of de Abreu and Furtado on May 15, 2014, along with additional accusations of armed assault and attempted murder for the gunfire fired at the vehicle’s surviving occupants. Trial commenced on March 1st, 2017.
Hernandez’s attorney, Jose Baez, contended that the suggested motive was improbable and that Hernandez was a convenient candidate in two unsolved murders. Bradley said that Hernandez killed the victims out of retribution after they allegedly spilled a drink on him at a nightclub hours before the shooting. Security camera evidence proved Hernandez was only inside the club for a short period of time. According to Bradley’s statement that he left with Hernandez, he quietly posed for a photo with a fan about that time and left by himself. Baez described the police investigation as being particularly shoddy and the lack of any tangible proof connecting Hernandez to the killings.
A jury later found Hernandez not guilty of the accusation of intimidating witnesses on April 14, 2017. They also cleared Hernandez of all other accusations related to the deaths of de Abreu and Furtado, with the exception of one count of unlawful firearm possession, which they found him guilty of.
Hernandez was charged with five gun-related offences as well as first-degree murder on June 26, 2013. The murder’s cause was never unambiguously determined.