Aaron Hernandez Trial: Witnesses Say Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz Acted Strangely After Odin Lloyd’s Murder, Tanya Singleton Allegedly Helped Wallace Leave Town
Prosecution witnesses testified Friday that two men accused of murdering Odin Lloyd, along with former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez, behaved strangely days following the killing, reports WCVB-TV.
Prosecutors allege Hernandez, Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz picked up Lloyd from his Boston home and drove him to an industrial park in North Attleborough where he was shot to death on June 17, 2013. Hernandez has pleaded not guilty to Lloyd's murder.
Hernandez's defense team has been placing the blame for Lloyd's death on co-defendants Wallace and Ortiz, who will be tried separately. Prosecutors have not said who shot Lloyd, but they have said Hernandez planned the killing.
On Friday, David and Elizabeth Gourneault testified that Wallace, their friend, arrived unexpectedly at their Bristol, Connecticut home days after the killing and asked to borrow their phone.
"He wasn't his usual self," Elizabeth Gourneault said. "He would talk but just seemed kind of quiet."
Wallace stepped outside to use the phone for about 30 minutes before leaving, according to David Gourneault.
Under questioning from Hernandez's lawyer Charles Rankin, Elizabeth Gourneault said that she told police she had deleted Wallace's number from her phone after learning of his arrest in connection with Lloyd's murder.
"I was scared," she said.
Hernandez's family members, by way of his cousin Tanya Singleton's marriage, also testified that Wallace and Singleton acted nervous in the days following Lloyd's death. Singleton is accused of helping Wallace flee the state.
The grandmother of Singleton's late husband, Irene Singleton, told the jury that Wallace and Ortiz showed up at her house within a week of Lloyd's death looking for her grandson.
"They appeared nervous," Irene Singleton said of the two men. She added that Wallace and Ortiz stood talking in her backyard for nearly an hour. "They never separate themselves when they come to our house because our house is a family house. But this day they were nervous."
Irene Singleton said the pair was acting so suspiciously that she had her grandson ask them to leave.
Upon further questioning from Rankin, Irene Singleton said that she had told police Wallace and Ortiz were behaving in a "crazy manner" and that Ortiz seemed to be on drugs most of the time.
Irene Singleton's daughter, Euna Ritchon, testified that she travels to Georgia frequently to visit her daughter. In the days following Lloyd's death, Wallace and Tanya Singleton asked if they could drive to Georgia with her. Ritchon agreed, and said they drove continuously through the night on back roads. She said she also she saw Tanya Singleton give Wallace a new cellphone before they left for the road trip.
Also last week, prosecutors brought in a Nike expert who testified a shoe print at the crime scene matches shoes Hernandez wore the same day.
Testimony in the Hernandez murder trial continues on Monday.
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