Testy Verbal Sparring Continues In Aaron Hernandez Double Murder Trial
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Aaron Hernandez double murder trial was briefly put on hold Wednesday afternoon while the judge in the case addressed jurors about a possible social media post by one of them about the case.
Judge Jeffrey Locke addressed the jurors after an attorney saw a Reddit post from someone accusing another of commenting "from the jury room."
It appears the post wasn't what it seemed, and testimony continued after Judge Locke reminded jurors to have no contact with the case outside of court.
More: Follow Christina Hager's tweets live from the courtroom
For the second day in a row, defense attorney Jose Baez sparred with the prosecution's star witness Alexander Bradley, a former friend of the ex-NFL star, during cross examination.
Bradley, Hernandez's ex-best friend and former drug dealer, was seen with Hernandez on the night of July 16, 2012, when Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado were shot to death in Boston's Back Bay.
On Monday, he testified that Hernandez pulled the trigger because the men had "disrespected" him after spilling a drink on him in a club.
Throughout Bradley's testimony Wednesday, Hernandez watched, at times tugging on his bottom lip.
Hernandez has pleaded not guilty in the murders–and defense attorneys say Bradley killed the two men over a drug deal.
Defense attorney Jose Baez attempted to poke holes in Bradley's account of the shooting, pointing out discrepancies between his past accounts of the murder and his Monday testimony.
"Your memory didn't get better with time, did it Mr. Bradley?" asked Baez at one point.
"Apparently not, Mr. Baez," Bradley responded.
Bradley said that, on the night of the murder, he drove Hernandez's silver Toyota 4Runner as Hernandez ordered him to follow Abreu and Furtado in their BMW. Bradley claims Hernandez leaned over him in the driver's seat, and fired out the window five times, killing the two men.
After the shooting, Bradley testified earlier in the trial, he and Hernandez drove to the house of Brooke Wilcox, the mother of Bradley's daughter, in Bristol, Connecticut. Baez pointed out that, according to Bradley's timeline, they arrived in Bristol around 5 a.m.--making the drive 2 1/2 hours, much longer than it should have been, though Bradley maintained there were no stops along the way.
They also discussed internet searches from Wilcox's house. Bradley claimed Monday that Hernandez searched for info about the shooting of Abreu and Furtado when they arrived at the house in Bristol.
The focus then turned to the February 2013 shooting of Bradley, which left him with a prosthetic eye.
Months after the shooting of Abreu and Furtado, Bradley claims, Hernandez brought Bradley to Florida, where Bradley was shot in the head in an alley in an industrial park.
Bradley said Hernandez pulled the trigger; prosecutors claim it was because, as a witness to the 2012 Boston shooting, Bradley knew too much.
But Baez pointed out that Bradley claimed he was shot by Hernandez inside a car--but that a shell casing found by police at the scene was in a grassy area, appearing to conflict with his testimony.
Baez also asked why Bradley texted his lawyer asking if he could be held for perjury for telling the truth about not recalling anything about who shot him.
The defense attorney posed a theory to jurors that it wasn't Hernandez who shot Bradley in Florida, but that it was the result of a drug deal gone bad.
He brought up the fact that Bradley didn't cooperate with police in the investigation into his shooting. Bradley's excuse for this on Monday was that he wanted to take revenge on Hernandez himself.
"I don't believe in snitching," Bradley said.
"What are you doing right now?" Baez responded.
Hernandez is already serving a life sentence for the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd, a semi-pro football player who was dating Hernandez's fiancee's sister at the time.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Bernice Corpuz reports
