Aaron Hernandez Murder Trial News Update: Ex-NFL Player Sent Text Messages to Odin Lloyd Shortly Before He Was Murdered
The murder trial of former New England Patriots star tight end Aaron Hernandez continued on Tuesday as a cellphone company employee read aloud the text messages Hernandez exchanged with Odin Lloyd shortly before he was murdered.
Hernandez is currently on trial for the shooting death of Lloyd, who was dating Hernandez's fiancée's sister at the time, in the early morning hours of June 17, 2013.
According to prosecutors, Hernandez and two co-defendants, Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz, picked Lloyd up in a rented Nissan Altima and then drove him "to a secluded, isolated area in North Attleborough," said Bristol County prosecutor Patrick Bomberg, reports The Boston Globe. "There Odin Lloyd was shot six times. He was killed, and he was left in a secluded area." Hernandez is accused of being the mastermind behind the shooting.
T-Mobile employee Raymond MacDonald testified on Tuesday that Hernandez exchanged a series of text messages and phone calls in the days and hours before Lloyd was killed. MacDonald also said that the NFL player tried to arrange a meeting with the victim via text message hours before the slaying, reports the Associated Press. Although Hernandez had deleted his messages with Lloyd from his phone, the messages were recovered from Lloyd's phone.
In addition, the former police sergeant turned T-Mobile International employee read the texts that Hernandez sent Lloyd about six hours before the 27-year-old was murdered.
"I'm going to grab that tonight u gon b around I need dat and we could step for a little again," reads one message, reports WPRI.
"idk it don't matter but imma hit u when I'm dat way like las time if my phone dies imm hit u when i charge it which will be a lil," reads another.
Lloyd's sister, Shaquilla Thibou, also testified on Monday about the hours leading up to her brother's murder. She said that she saw her brother get into a silver car about an hour before he was shot to death, but she could not tell who was driving the car.
Plus, Thibou said she received several text messages from her brother minutes before he was fatally shot, at 3:19 a.m., 3:22 a.m. and 3:23 a.m. Because of a previous judge ruling, Thibou will not be able to share what the text messages said with the jury.
According to court documents, the texts Lloyd sent to his sister read: "U saw who I'm with," "Nfl," and "Just so you know."
Prosecutors also petition the judge Monday to allow them to present information about Hernandez's alleged involvement in a friend's shooting in Florida. The victim, Alexander Bradley, lost an eye after he and Hernandez got into an argument over a bar tab. However, he refused to tell police who shot him.
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