Aaron Hernandez fiancee: I saw gun in our junk drawer
FALL RIVER, Mass. - The fiancee of former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez took the stand in his murder trial Friday and testified she once saw a firearm in the junk drawer of the home she shared with Hernandez.
Shayanna Jenkins was granted immunity by the court in February, which means she could be compelled to testify or face time behind bars. There had been a question about whether prosecutors would call Jenkins, who has been in a relationship with Hernandez since high school and is the mother of his 2-year-old daughter.
Hernandez has pleaded not guilty to the June 17, 2013, killing of Odin Lloyd, 27, who was dating Jenkins' younger sister, Shaneah. Lloyd was found shot to death at an industrial park less than a mile from the home that Shayanna and Hernandez share.
When questioned by a prosecutor Friday as to whether she had ever seen a firearm in the home she shared with Hernandez, Jenkins testified that she had. She said she came across a black firearm in their kitchen's junk drawer. She said she later confronted Hernandez with a "stern look" about her finding, but doesn't remember whether they had a conversation about it.
Jenkins said she never saw the weapon again.
The prosecution then displayed a surveillance image showing what they say is Hernandez in his home on the night Lloyd was killed. The image has been displayed before and prosecutors have aimed to show Hernandez is holding a gun in the image. The defense has suggested the image is blurry and could be anything - such as a remote control or a video game controller.
A prosecutor asked Jenkins Friday whether the object in Hernandez's hand in the image resembles the weapon she once came across in the junk drawer. Jenkins testified that she couldn't see the full item and couldn't identify it as a gun. Instead, she described it as a "black blob."
The prosecution spent hours walking Jenkins through the days leading up to Lloyd's murder and then the days afterwards. Jenkins told the jury Hernandez was drunk in the hours before the slaying.
She also testified that she was the one to drop Hernandez off at the police station to be questioned in connection with Lloyd's murder. She said that after she dropped him off, Hernandez told her to meet up with one of his co-defendants - Ernest Wallace - and give him money.
Jenkins then drove to Rhode Island and gave Wallace $500, the maximum she could withdraw from an ATM.
Wallace and a third man, Carlos Ortiz, have pleaded not guilty in the case and will be tried later.
Before Jenkins took the stand, Judge Susan Garsh announced that a male juror had been dismissed from the case, but she didn't elaborate. He is the third juror to be dismissed from the trial. Fifteen jurors remain, and three of those will be alternates chosen randomly after closing arguments.
Shayanna Jenkins has pleaded not guilty to perjury in connection with the case. Prosecutors say she lied to a grand jury investigating the killing.
She and her sister, Shaneah, introduced Lloyd and Hernandez in 2012 during a game at Gillette Stadium.
Shayanna Jenkins has been coming to court sporadically and sitting behind Hernandez, whispering "I love you," to him and occasionally joking with him. Prior to Friday, she had not appeared in court since March 6.
When Shaneah was called to testify earlier in the trial, Shayanna scribbled notes and then passed them to Hernandez's lawyers, occasionally sighing as her sister spoke.
Surveillance video previously played for the jury showed Shayanna removing from their home a garbage bag with what appeared to be a box inside. Prosecutors said before the trial that they believe the box contained the murder weapon, which has never been found.