Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez drove his friend to a remote spot in an industrial park in the dead of night before he murdered him, still fuming from a fight at a nightclub three nights before, prosecutors alleged in a Massachusetts court on Wednesday.
"He orchestrated the crime from the beginning and took steps to conceal and destroy evidence," First Assistant District Attorney Bill McCauley told an Attleboro District Court.
Hernandez pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and five firearms charges, including possessing a large-capacity firearm, more than a week after the body of
Odin Lloyd was found near his Massachusetts home. A judge ordered him to be held without bail because of the murder charge.
Wearing a white V-neck shirt, red sports shorts, and handcuffs,
Hernandez showed no emotion as prosecutors laid out a bruising account of what allegedly happened the night semi-professional football player
Lloyd was killed, citing what they say is surveillance camera footage, text messages, and witnesses who were working the overnight shift who heard gunshots as evidence.
Hernandez wiped tears from his face at the very end of the arraignment.
The bullet-punctured body of
Lloyd, 27, was found by a jogger on June 17 in an industrial park about one mile away from the ex-tight end's North Attleborough home. The death was ruled a homicide.
Prosecutors said that the killing was prompted by a fight between the two friends during a trip on June 14 to a Boston nightclub. On June 17,
Hernandez and two friends allegedly picked
Lloyd up at his house at 2:30 a.m. Surveillance footage from
Hernandez's house shows him leaving earlier in the night with a weapon, prosecutors said.
After getting into the car,
Lloyd allegedly texted a family member, asking, "Did you see who I am with," prosecutors said. He then texted that it was
Hernandez and followed it up with, "Just so you know" in another text message, the prosecutors alleged during the arraignment.
Later that morning, between 3:23 a.m. and 3:27 a.m., employees who were working the overnight shift at the industrial park where
Lloyd's body would later be found reported hearing gunshots, authorities said. It's not clear who investigators believe fired the shots.
"It is at bottom a circumstantial case. It is not a strong case," Michael Fee,
Hernandez's attorney, who had asked for bail, said in court.
But prosecutors allege home security videos from
Hernandez's house show him with firearms after
Lloyd had been murdered, and show a Nissan Altima — the same type of car
Hernandez had rented — going to and coming from the site where
Lloyd's body would later be found. He was seen exiting the vehicle at 3:29 a.m. with a gun at his home on the surveillance footage, prosecutors claim, shortly after authorities say
Lloyd was killed.
Hernandez, 23, was placed in handcuffs and put in a police cruiser just before 9 a.m. on Wednesday by Massachusetts State Police and North Attleborough police. Authorities have searched his home, on the Rhode Island line not far from the
Patriots' stadium, several times over the past week.Less than two hours after the arrest, the Patriots announced they were releasing Hernandez.
"A young man was murdered last week and we extend our sympathies to the family and friends who mourn his loss. Words cannot express the disappointment we feel knowing that one of our players was arrested as a result of this investigation. We realize that law enforcement investigations into this matter are ongoing. We support their efforts and respect the process. At this time, we believe this transaction is simply the right thing to do," a statement from the team read.
The Patriots drafted
Hernandez in 2010. Last summer, the team gave
Hernandez a five-year contract that is worth $40 million, including a signing bonus of $12.5 million.
The investigation also cost Hernandez his endorsement contract with CytoSport, which makes Muscle Milk and other supplements for athletes, last week.
A call to Fee,
Hernandez's attorney, was not immediately returned.
Separately,
Hernandez is also embroiled in a civil lawsuit by a Connecticut man, Alexander Bradley, who alleges
Hernandez shot him in the eye after the two left a Miami strip club in February.
According to a Palm Beach County police report, the case was abandoned because Bradley refused to cooperate with authorities.
Hernandez lives with his fiancee and their infant, according to Fee.
