Aaron Hernandez Trial Jury Tours Key Locations In Double Murder Case
BOSTON (CBS/AP) — Jurors in the double murder trial of former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez took a tour of several key locations in the case Friday.
They visited the intersection of Shawmut Avenue and Herald Street where Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado were gunned down in July 2012.
Prosecutors allege Hernandez fatally shot the two men after a brief encounter at Cure Lounge where one of them bumped into Hernandez, which caused Hernandez to spill his drink.
The nightclub was also part of Friday's jury tour, which included a stop at the Boston Police evidence facility in Hyde Park to view the silver Toyota 4-Runner that Hernandez was allegedly in at the time of the murders.
During the day's first stop at Cure Lounge, jurors gathered across the street by the W Hotel, where prosecutor Patrick Haggan and defense lawyer Jose Baez appeared to point out the distance between the hotel and the club.
Jurors were inside the nightclub for about 45 minutes.
At the intersection where the shooting occurred, Baez appeared to point out to jurors the lack of street lighting.
The final stop of the tour was the Boston Police evidence warehouse in Hyde Park. Jurors viewed the SUV Hernandez was allegedly riding in when the double murder took place.
Baez suggested previously he will argue that the dimensions of the 4-Runner made it virtually impossible for Hernandez to fire the fatal shots from the front passenger seat.
While jurors were viewing the SUV, Baez showed them the high center console and noted how the driver's seat slowly reclines upon the push of a button.
"I'm about to demonstrate for everyone how the seat will recline," defense attorney Jose Baez said.
Authorities had been looking for the vehicle's license plate for a year.
"I ask you to make observation and take note of the Rhode Island license plate 635-035," prosecutor Patrick Haggan said.
Investigators later found the SUV hidden at a Connecticut home owned by Hernandez's uncle.
A sideview mirror was dangling from the front passenger window. The car was turned on for jurors, who looked into the interior through the open driver's side doors.
Hernandez's lawyer says the real killer wasn't Hernandez, but rather the government's star witness, former Hernandez friend Alexander Bradley.
Crime scene photos and graphic descriptions of the killings were presented in court Thursday.
More testimony got underway Friday afternoon when the jury returned to Suffolk Superior Court.
Hernandez's fiance Shayanna Jenkins watched with her lawyer for a third day, along with victims relatives, looking at photos from in and outside the place where it all allegedly began, where jurors had just been in person, Cure Lounge.
Photos from inside Cure Lounge being shown in court now. Jurors saw it up close & in person during field trip this morning. #wbz pic.twitter.com/R5NCLhIRQ2
— Christina Hager (@HagerWBZ) March 3, 2017
The jury also heard from Zeid Naeulsi, a night manager at Cure Lounge, about the nightclub's video surveillance system.
Aaron Hernandez already is serving a life sentence for a 2013 killing.
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