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 Hernandez, 25, is charged with summoning Odin Lloyd to his home
late one night in June 2013 and taking him on a drive to an
industrial park in North Attleborough, Massachusetts, where
prosecutors contend he shot and killed the semi-professional
football player.
The former tight end, who had a $41 million contract at the time he
was arrested and dropped by the Patriots, has since been charged
with two more homicides, men that prosecutors contend Hernandez shot
dead outside a Boston nightclub in 2012 after a dispute over a
spilled drink.
Jury selection will begin on Friday in his trial on charges of
murdering Lloyd, with Massachusetts Superior Court Associate Justice
Susan Garsh summoning more than 1,000 people to the courthouse in
Fall River over three days.
While Hernandez also faces a variety of firearms charges,
investigators have not located the weapon used to kill Lloyd. They
do have video of a car rented by Hernandez arriving at the site
where Lloyd's body was found, departing and later arriving at
Hernandez' home.
Prosecutors contend that Lloyd had hung out at a nightclub with some
people that Hernandez did not like. In a hearing last month, Garsh
also blocked prosecutors' efforts to introduce Lloyd's final text
messages to his sister, sent while prosecutors contend he was in a
car with Hernandez riding to his death, saying there was no proof
that the messages showed Lloyd believed himself to be in danger.
Garsh also ruled the jury hearing the Lloyd case will not be told
about the Boston killings. In that case, prosecutors contend that
Hernandez flew into a rage over a spilled drink and tailed two
strangers, Cape Verdean nationals Daniel Abreu and Safirdo Furtado,
killing them outside a nightclub.
Hernandez's roster of high-powered Boston attorneys, including James
Sultan and Michael Fee, have helped him win those key early
procedural victories, said Boston College law professor Robert
Bloom.
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"The prosecution has a tremendous amount of resources and it's very
rare that a criminal defendant can match those resources," Bloom
said. "There's a great deal of circumstantial evidence."
Prosecutors also will be headed into the trial under the leadership
of a new district attorney, Thomas Quinn, who was named to the post
on an acting basis last week after predecessor Sam Sutter was
elected mayor of Fall River.
Quinn, a 16-year veteran of the Bristol County District Attorney's
office, said the change at the top will not affect trial strategy.
"Continuity in this case is very important and I'll be able to
maintain that continuity," Quinn told reporters this week. "It's as
if nothing has changed."
Hernandez has pleaded not guilty to all three killings. Two of his
friends, Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz, have pleaded not guilty to
charges tied to Lloyd's killing.
(Writing by Scott Malone; Editing by Bill Trott)
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