If it seems like Aaron Hernandez has been on trial for murder for freaking ever, you’d be right. Actually, it’s been almost exactly four years since police put Hernandez under arrest after he was suspected of killing Odin Lloyd just a half-mile from Aaron’s house, and since then, he’s been convicted of first-degree murder for killing Lloyd execution-style and got Massachusetts’ mandatory life without parole sentence. After that, he got indicted for a double murder charge for a 2012 incident where Hernandez was suspected of shooting two men named Safiro Furtado and Daniel Abreu at a traffic stop over, of all things, a spilled drink at a club.
That trial started on March 1st, 2017, which is why we’re here today - and it looks like they’re wrapping things up after a month of, shall we say, conflicting testimony from Hernandez and his former friend Alexander Bradley (he who you may remember says Hernandez tried to kill him by shooting him in the head in 2013, only he somehow survived), and both guys are saying that the other guy is the one that shot Abreu and Furtado. Got it?
Making things even more difficult is another familiar face from the Odin Lloyd trial - Hernandez’s fiancé Shayanna Jenkins, who apparently is now going by Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez. Just like in the other trial, she’s taken an immunity deal and is functioning as a prosecution witness, and just like last time, she has basically been maddeningly unhelpful to anyone. Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel, who’s been doing an A+ job covering the trial, describes all her answers as “...brief, vague, mostly useless”. According to Jenkins, she doesn’t remember anything about the Boston murders, had no idea what Aaron and his boys were doing most of the time, including in the man-cave at their house, and never asked any questions about what Hernandez was doing or where he was going or who he hung out with. Right. Of course.
So, with all that on the table (and I’d highly encourage you to read Dan Wetzel’s coverage on Yahoo Sports if you’re really interested in getting caught up), this whole nightmare seems like it’s almost - finally - over. The Boston Globe reported on Tuesday that the lawyers for Aaron Hernandez are expected to rest their case on Wednesday afternoon, and that only leaves closing arguments before the jury comes to a verdict.
And with that, hopefully one of the strangest, saddest, and screwed-up stories in New England sports history will be, thankfully, over.