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This defense is comical...needed to holla at Prof keating.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/aaron-hernandez-defense-team-delivers-closing-arguments-article-1.2176089
Closing arguments in Aaron Hernandez
murder trial as prosecution and defense
make final cases to jury
FALL RIVER, Mass. — James Sultan, a defense attorney representing Aaron
Hernandez, addressed jurors inside Courtroom 7 of the Fall River Justice
Center Tuesday, questioning investigators' methods and prosecutors'
presentations in the defense's closing argument at the former Patriot's firstdegree
murder trial.
"Where's the proof? Where's the proof?" he said. "It isn't there."
Each side was allotted 90 minutes to make its argument, and both sides used
every second. Sultan insisted prosecutors leaned on jurors' ability to fill in a
"gaping hole" with speculation. The prosecution, led by Assistant District
Attorney William McCauley, countered that all the evidence linked Hernandez
to orchestrating the killing of Odin Lloyd, a 27yearold landscaper and
amateur football player from the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, in an
industrial park.
"He's got the gun!" McCauley said at one point.
Once the arguments were completed and Judge E. Susan Garsh read the
charges, she appointed Juror No. 5 – a middleaged woman with short brown
hair – as foreperson. The jury was then led out of the room to begin
deliberations at 3:03 p.m. Hernandez was allowed to speak with his fiancée,
Shayanna Jenkins, and several family members.
In his final flourish, Sultan said that the government’s case was “infected with
bias,” and asked jurors to wonder why Massachusetts State Police Trooper
Eric Benson, the lead investigator on the case, was not one of the 132
witnesses the prosecution called. He also addressed the fact that a weapon
was never retrieved.
"This isn't a mystery show," Sultan said. "The case is whether or not the
Commonwealth has proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt."
McCauley referred to Hernandez as "this guy!" several times and asked that
jurors "not buy" testimony from a defense witness about PCP use among
the alleged accomplices. McCauley said Hernandez's cousin, Jennifer
Mercado, made it up
"Why is it in this case?" McCauley said. "It's a distraction, and it's been
manufactured by Jennifer Mercado."
Sultan allowed that his client was at the murder scene, but stated that he was
not involved in the slaying as he was joined by alleged accomplices Ernest
Wallace and Carlos Ortiz. The murder occurred on June 17, 2013, less than a
mile from Hernandez's house and just hours after Hernandez's first Father's
Day as the father of Avielle, his daughter and only child.
"He was a 23yearold kid," Sultan said. "He witnessed something, a shocking
killing committed by someone he knew. He didn't know what to do so he put
one foot in front of the other. He's not charged with being an accessory after
the fact."
That contradicted what Patriots owner Robert Kraft testified about. Kraft
noted Hernandez hoped the timeline in the case came out to exonerate him.
Kraft said Hernandez told him he was at a club in Providence at the time of the
murder.
"False alibi," McCauley said.
McCauley encouraged the jury to consider the body of evidence, tracing a
motive to Hernandez's being upset with Lloyd at Club Rumor in Boston two
night's prior to the murder. He talked about Hernandez being seen with a gun
in his waistband outside the club, as a valet testified in court.
"Is that not to be believed?" McCauley said.
McCauley also called into question the demeanor of Hernandez and his
alleged confederates, citing their calm walking around Hernandez's house and
pool as Lloyd's body began to decompose before being discovered by a
teenage runner. If Hernandez saw someone murder Lloyd, McCauley said,
then why would he allow Wallace and Ortiz to hold his daughter the day after?
"After homicide, who would walk around with a gun in the house like it was a
trophy?" McCauley said. "Aaron Hernandez would. He's thinking no one's
going to think I did it."
Sultan pointed the jurors toward several pieces of evidence, in particular,
telling them that the prosecution "would do whatever it took to accomplish their
goal" of convicting Hernandez, the suspect they charged with firstdegree
murder. He asserted that prosecutors attempted to "snooker" the jurors,
focusing on a shell casing connected to a piece of gum that police found in a
dumpster at the Enterprise rental center where Hernandez rented a car days
before allegedly killing Lloyd.
Lloyd's body was discovered with six gunshot wounds. He traced Hernandez's
footprints to shell casings at the murder scene, and McCauley called the site "a
perfect place to commit a homicide." Shaneah Jenkins, who dated Lloyd at the
time of his violent death, rubbed the shoulder of Lloyd's mother, Ursula Ward
as Ward bowed her head when McCauley talked about bullets ripping through
her son's flesh.
Sultan portrayed Hernandez and Lloyd, who were dating the Jenkins sisters,
as closer than acquaintances, linked together as smoking buddies in the
basement of Hernandez's house, spending "many, many weekends" with the
sisters. A marijuana blunt that contained the DNA of both Hernandez and Lloyd
was found at the murder scene. Shayanna Jenkins previously said Hernandez
and Lloyd were "cordial."
"Aaron and Odin shared a passion, a passion for marijuana," Sultan said.
He added: "Were they friends? Obviously they were friends. They were future
brothers in law."
When it was his turn, McCauley countered by shouting, "Inconsistent!" He
implored jurors to "follow the evidence."
"Look for that first fact. Were they friends?" McCauley said. "That's totally
inconsistent."
Hernandez, 25, pleaded not guilty to homicide and weapons charges. He was
arrested nine days after Lloyd was shot to death in an industrial park less than
a mile from Hernandez's house. Hernandez's arrest occurred on June 26,
2013 as he was led out of his home in handcuffs and arraigned in court. He
was cut by the Patriots and jailed in the Bristol County House of Corrections.
His attorneys harped on the loose ends that they believed showed Hernandez
did not plan to kill Lloyd.
"If Aaron had planned in advance to murder Odin, why would he leave keys to
a car that he had rented in Odin's pocket?" Sultan said. "If Aaron had planned
in advance, why would he have brought along two witnesses?"
Sultan acknowledged that Hernandez may have been holding a gun in his
hand on surveillance video from inside his house minutes after the murder.
"Is it a gun? It may be a gun," Sultan said. "Has the Commonwealth proven to
you beyond a reasonable doubt? Suppose you find it is a gun. How does that
prove Aaron Hernandez murdered Odin Lloyd?"
Six supporters, including Hernandez's mother, Terri, and fiancée, Shayanna
Jenkins, sat in the front row of the courtroom's gallery. At one point,
Hernandez's mother was coughing continuously, and Hernandez poured her a
cup of water.
Sultan referred to the trial as a "terrible case."
"Don't compound the tragedy by convicting an innocent man," he said.
McCauley asked the jury to find Hernandez guilty.
"We're asking for a fair verdict," he said.
-The Knicks’ coaching search still includes a lone frontrunner, Kurt Rambis, whose qualifications for the position include a strong relationship with Jackson and a willingness to take the job.
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