Aaron Hernandez is already serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd.
It might explain why his defense appears ready to take a blowtorch to anything in its path, as the former New England Patriot star stands trial for a separate double murder over the 2012 killing of two Cape Verdean immigrants.
Prosecutors charge Hernandez murdered Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado in a drive-by shooting after growing enraged because Abreu spilled a drink on him in a nightclub in Boston’s Theatre District. Hernandez, now 27, faces additional, but essentially meaningless, life-without-parole sentences if convicted. The state is prosecuting the case in an effort to find justice for the victims and their families.
During his hour-long opening statement Wednesday, defense attorney Jose Baez made it clear this case would not come easily or quietly for the state. He went after everyone, everything and all angles of the prosecution’s case. That included:
• Accusing the Boston Police of repeated acts of both gross misconduct and general negligence in the investigation, losing or ignoring critical evidence.
“Corruption at its inception,” Baez said.
• Further accusing the Boston Police of not caring about the case at all when it assumed the victims were just anonymous street criminals and going all in only when they believed they could link it to Hernandez.
“No citizen should be treated that way,” Baez said, sympathizing that the victims deserved a better effort.
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Lead prosecutor Patrick Haggan points to Aaron Hernandez as the killer of two immigrants. (AP)
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• Theorizing that if the police didn’t destroy surveillance video from Cure Lounge that might clear Hernandez of the charges, then the nightclub might have done it itself in an effort to hide drug sales taking place on the premises.
• Declaring the Suffolk County district attorney’s office cared about this case only because it thought it would be good publicity to convict a famous athlete who had already been charged with a separate murder.
“We have an NFL football player, the cameras are here,” Baez said, motioning to the media assembled in the ninth-floor courtroom here. “That’s what this is about.”
• Arguing that the state was so desperate to finger Hernandez it “made a deal with the devil” – in this case Alexander Bradley, the prosecution’s star witness. Bradley is a convicted drug dealer who is serving time in Connecticut for shooting up a nightclub in Hartford. Baez says the violent Bradley, not Hernandez, is the gunman. The state, while acknowledging Bradley is a bad guy, contend he was just the wheelman that night. Baez argued Bradley never should have received immunity for his testimony.
“He’ll get out real soon, courtesy of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” Baez said.
Baez even dismissed the allegation that Hernandez shot Bradley in the eye in 2013 after a night out at a South Florida strip club, saying it was another drug dealer who did that to Bradley and he can prove it. It certainly, Baez said, wasn’t Hernandez trying to silence a potential witness, as the state alleges.
• While Baez claimed it was unfortunate that, in his opinion, Furtado and Abreu didn’t get a full investigation from the police, he wasn’t kind to the deceased either. He didn’t hesitate to accuse Furtado of being involved in drug trades with Bradley. Baez said that was Bradley’s motive for killing them, not the “absurd” idea that Hernandez would murder two people over a spilled drink.
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Defense attorney Jose Baez smiles at the jury during opening arguments. (AP)
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That led family and friends of Abreu and Furtado to shake their heads and at times weep in anger, a preview perhaps of how contentious this may get. Both men, they argue, were honest, hard-working immigrants who gave up careers in law enforcement and tourism to come to Massachusetts in search of the American Dream.
“No, that doesn’t sound like him at all,” Neusa de Abreu testified when asked whether her brother had any conflicts with drug dealers.
• Accused first assistant district attorney Patrick Haggan of trying to get the jury to “discriminate” against Hernandez. Baez took issue with Haggan, during his opening statement, focusing on Hernandez’s fame and fortune in contrast with the humble lives of the victims, who each worked cleaning buildings in Boston.
And this was just Day 1.
“Lies after lies after lies,” Baez said.
Baez is best known for gaining a 2011 acquittal for Casey Anthony, a young Florida mother accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter. That case was a public and media circus, with Baez proving to be both relentless and comfortable in the storm.
Based out of Orlando, Baez is on unfamiliar turf in Boston. That may allow him the freedom to attack everyone and every institution here. A local attorney might avoid that because he must still work here after the trial. Hernandez’s high-priced defense team in the Lloyd trial was cerebral and purposeful but rarely rocked the boat. It also proved unable to avoid conviction.
Whether Baez’s style works will be determined by the 15 jurors (12 of whom will vote) in what is expected to be a six-week trial.
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Safira Furtado, sister of Safiro Furtado, cries as she testifies during the double-murder trial of Aaron Hernandez. (AP)
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If nothing else, Day 1 was a sign that Hernandez isn’t pulling any punches. Barring an unlikely successful appeal of the Lloyd conviction, he’ll spend the rest of his life in a maximum-security prison regardless of whether he wins here or not. So why go down easy?
Baez even argued to the jury that the prosecutors asked them three questions during the panel selection process in an effort to handpick people who might be gullible enough to convict Hernandez despite no evidence.
“They asked, ‘Could you convict if you didn’t believe in the credibility of [Alexander Bradley]?’ ” Baez said. “They asked, ‘Could you convict if you don’t believe the motive?’ They asked, ‘Could you convict if there is no forensic evidence connecting Aaron Hernandez to the crime?’
” … Would you? Would you do it for us, please?” Baez mocked. Later, on a specific point he argued, “You are far more intelligent than that and you’re not going to believe it.”
Baez was excellent Wednesday, engaging and charismatic. He’ll need to be because the charges against Hernandez are daunting.
Haggan laid out the state’s argument calmly and concisely, painting Hernandez as a quick-tempered and violent predator. While the state’s case will rely considerably on Bradley, a troubled witness if there ever was one, there is other significant evidence.
“The truth of the evidence is that that man, Aaron Hernandez, is guilty of this crime,” Haggan said, pointing at the defendant.
One benefit to Hernandez is that the Commonwealth can’t introduce that he has already been convicted of murder or is serving time in prison. Much of jury selection focused on weeding out people who knew of the Lloyd murder and 2015 trial in Fall River, Mass., about 50 miles south of Boston.
A sizeable contingent of heartbroken family and friends came to the courtroom here in downtown Boston to support the victims. Hernandez had a much smaller group, basically just Shayanna Jenkins, his one-time fiancée and the mother of his young daughter.
The two dated on and off since middle school in Bristol, Conn., where they both grew up. Jenkins was granted immunity at the Lloyd trial to testify about the removal of a box from their home that prosecutors alleged contained the murder weapon.
Her presence in court suggests there is still some sort of relationship between them. Hernandez craned his neck to acknowledge her at one point, but mostly spent the day sitting quietly at the defense table, looking relaxed as usual.
That was his demeanor throughout the 2015 Lloyd trial, one of the few similarities thus far. Baez apparently didn’t take a case up in New England to play it safe or easy. With nothing to lose, Aaron Hernandez is trying everything to win.
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