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 The drugs expert, Dr. David Greenblatt of Tufts University School of
Medicine, said that PCP - a drug an earlier witness said may have
been used by people who were with Hernandez at the time of the
murder - could trigger violent behavior.
A forensics analyst testified Hernandez's DNA was found on a piece
of chewing gum stuck to a shell casing retrieved from the trash by
investigators, and that the DNA could have been transferred to the
shell from the gum.
The testimony played into the defense team's suggestion that
Hernandez's friends may have committed the killing, and not the
former New England Patriots tight end himself.
Hernandez, 25, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Odin Lloyd, a
semiprofessional football player who was dating the sister of
Hernandez's fiancée. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of
life in prison.
Prosecutors say Hernandez and two friends, Ernest Wallace and Carlos
Ortiz, picked up Lloyd at his Boston home in the early hours of June
17, 2013, and shot him to death in an industrial park near
Hernandez's house in North Attleboro, Massachusetts.
Prosecutors called more than 120 witnesses in the trial since it
began in late January. Closing statements will begin Tuesday before
the jury deliberates.
On Monday, Dr. Greenblatt testified that PCP can make people sweaty
or shaky, and hinder cognition. "It can cause violent behavior," he
told jurors.
Earlier in the trial, Jennifer Mercado, a cousin of Hernandez,
testified that Wallace and Ortiz appeared jittery and sweaty when
she saw them before the murder. She said they behaved similarly to
when they had used PCP previously.
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Wallace and Ortiz have been charged with murder and will be tried
separately. They have pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors called a rebuttal witness, psychiatrist Martin Brecher,
who cast doubt on the link between PCP and violence.
Later on Monday, Jennifer Smith, who works for a private DNA testing
lab, testified that a swab from a piece of gum that was stuck to an
empty shell casing removed from a rental car returned by Hernandez
after the murder matched his DNA profile.
She said "it is extremely likely some of the saliva that was in that
gum was transferred to that casing."
(Editing by Richard Valdmanis, David Gregorio and Ted Botha)
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