Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez already has one murder conviction on his resume. A trial that could pin two more murders on Hernandez officially got underway on Wednesday.
According to Denise Lavoie of the Associated Press, lawyers representing Hernandez claimed that the prosecution’s key witness - Alexander Bradley - was the man behind the 2012 killings of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado.
Bradley has said he was with Hernandez when he allegedly shot and killed de Abreu and Furtado following a seemingly minor incident in a Boston nightclub that resulted in Hernandez’s drink being spilled. Bradley claims that Hernandez took the interaction as a sign of disrespect and later opened fired on the pair’s car when they ended up alongside each other at a stoplight later in the night.
Hernandez shot Bradley in the head seven months later, causing Bradley to lose his right eye. Hernandez was also charged with witness intimidation for the shooting of Bradley.
Another witness, Raychides Sanches, has also pointed the blame toward Hernandez.
Meanwhile, Hernandez’s representation claim that de Abreu and Bradley has a pre-existing relation acquaintance and that Bradley killed the men over a drug deal gone bad.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this did not happen over a spilled drink. This happened over a drug deal,” Hernandez lawyer Jose Baez said.
Hernandez was convicted of first-degree murder in April 2015 over the killing of Odin Lloyd.
