Trooper
describes evidence seized from ex-NFL star Hernandez' home
Send a link to a friend
[February 20, 2015]
By Daniel Lovering
FALL RIVER, Mass. (Reuters) -
Investigators seized .22 caliber shells, sneakers and a scale apparently
used for marijuana from Aaron Hernandez's home days after the former
National Football League star's alleged murder victim was found, a
police officer said on Thursday.
|
Massachusetts State Police Trooper Zachary Johnson, testifying at
state Superior Court in the first of two murder trials Hernandez
faces this year, said police confiscated the items along with a
white long-sleeved shirt at the North Attleborough house on June 22,
2013. The shirt appeared similar to one worn by Hernandez in
surveillance footage.
The search came five days after the body of Odin Lloyd, a
semi-professional football player who had been dating the sister of
Hernandez's fiancee, was discovered by a jogger in an industrial
park nearby.
Hernandez, 25, had a $41 million contract with the New England
Patriots when he was dropped from the team shortly after being
arrested and charged with Lloyd's murder in June 2013. He also faces
firearms charges.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Feb/20/images/ads/current/LPL_small%201.gif) If convicted, Hernandez faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Prosecutors contend Hernandez and two friends, Ernest Wallace and
Carlos Ortiz, picked up Lloyd at his Boston home in the early hours
of June 17, 2013, before driving him to the North Attleborough
industrial area where his body was found later that day.
Wallace and Ortiz have also been charged and will be tried
separately. All three men have pleaded not guilty.
Police found five empty .45 caliber shells near Lloyd's body, but
have not located the gun used in the slaying. Lloyd was shot six
times.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/ads/current/tires250x300.gif)
Police testified this week they found a .45 caliber shell stuck to
chewed gum and an empty Vitamin Water bottle in a dumpster at a
rental car agency after employees cleaned out a car Hernandez
returned the day Lloyd's body was found.
Johnson, the state trooper, said other items seized at Hernandez's
house included a digital scale and dish used for marijuana, a
refrigerator containing bottles of Vitamin Water, a box of .22
caliber shells and four pairs of Nike size 13 sneakers.
Prosecutors have questioned several witnesses about footprints found
at the murder scene.
Hernandez will face a second trial later this year on charges he
killed two Cape Verdean men outside a Boston nightclub in 2012.
(Editing by Scott Malone and Peter Cooney)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Feb/20/images/ads/current/edward_jones_sda_pollice.png) |