The nature of the relationship between the former New England Patriots star, charged with first-degree murder, and the victim has played a central role in the two-month trial.
Were Aaron Hernandez and Odin Lloyd close friends? Or were they just two men who knew each other because their girlfriends were sisters?
Steven Senne / AP
Prosecutors have built a strong case, though circumstantial, against Hernandez. The evidence at the heart of the state's case includes a shoe print, a bullet casing, and his fiancée's testimony about throwing away a large box.
The murder weapon, a .45 Glock, was never recovered. Instead, prosecutors relied on a Glock employee's testimony that a black object Hernandez was holding the day of Lloyd's murder could conceivably be the same weapon.
The prosecution has struggled to establish a motive. Because they are making a case for first degree murder, they are not required to present a motive, though it would greatly help their case. And under Massachusetts law, prosecutors do not need to prove Hernandez pulled the trigger — just that he orchestrated the killing.
Because Hernandez was with two other friends the night of Lloyd's murder, both defense attorneys and prosecutors have attempted to portray the two as friends.
Defense lawyers want the jury to believe a man wouldn't kill a close friend.
The prosecution wants the jury to believe that Hernandez was the only person with a close enough relationship with Lloyd — and who was around him at the time of his death — to be driven to murder. (Hernandez was with Lloyd before he was killed, but his defense has said he was with two friends, Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz, when the actual murder occurred.)
But while lawyers for both sides want the jury to believe they were buddies, the evidence presented at the trial — through exhibits and witnesses — is conflicted on the question.
If the jury doesn't believe Hernandez and Lloyd were close, it largely removes emotion — and the motives or lack thereof that come from that — from their deliberations. Instead, the jury will have to ask if the prosecution's circumstantial evidence shows, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Hernandez did it. The defense, on Thursday, filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that "no rational jury could find every essential element of the crimes charged beyond reasonable doubt."
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