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Prosecutors charge that the 27-year-old former tight end
gunned down two Cape Verdean men outside a Boston nightclub in
May 2012 after one of them unwittingly spilled a drink on him.
Those killings allegedly came a year before Hernandez shot dead
an acquaintance at an industrial park near his North
Attleborough, Massachusetts, home.
Hernandez is currently serving a life sentence after being found
guilty of the 2013 North Attleborough murder. The Boston case
represents the second murder trial he faces in two years.
Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Locke has approved a
request by prosecutors to use photos of some of Hernandez's
tattoos as evidence. Prosecutors argue that two tattoos
depicting guns are references to the double murder as well as an
alleged nonfatal shooting of a friend.
Hernandez's attorneys have indicated in court papers that they
may call experts on use of marijuana in the National Football
League and on the relationship between marijuana and violence.
Hernandez's history of using marijuana and sometimes the
stimulant PCP was detailed during his first trial.
Prosecutors contend that Cape Verde nationals Daniel Abreu and
Safiro Furtado did not realize that one of them had brushed
against Hernandez at the nightclub before he followed them
outside and pursued them in a car before the fatal shootings.
Hernandez, who has pleaded not guilty, is also charged with
witness intimidation for shooting his friend Alexander Bradley
in the face on a trip to Florida, after the man mentioned the
murders. Prosecutors have said they plan to call Bradley, who
lost an eye, as a witness to the killing of Abreu and Furtado.
Hernandez had a $41 million contract when he was arrested at his
North Attleborough home in June 2013 and charged with murdering
Odin Lloyd, an acquaintance. The team dropped him within hours
of his arrest.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft testified at Hernandez's first
trial, telling the jury that the athlete had professed his
innocence and claimed to have been a nightclub at the time of
the shooting.
The team's head coach, Bill Belichick, is listed as a potential
defense witness for this trial.
(Editing by Matthew Lewis)
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