National Football League

Attorneys try to establish Hernandez whereabouts before Lloyd murder

Published Feb. 26, 2015 11:01 a.m. ET

foxsports

Aaron Hernandez spent nearly three hours out with friends at a Providence cafe, where he appeared to be in a good mood and enjoying himself, at the same time he was allegedly sending text messages to set up the murder of Odin Lloyd.

Jurors in Hernandez's murder trial on Thursday heard detailed testimony about the time Hernandez and five others spent at the South Street Cafe late on June 16, 2013, which was Father's Day.

Kelly Rose Belanger, at the time a manager at the cafe, testified about the receipt from the visit, showing that the first order was placed at 9:37 p.m. and that the bill -- $273.45, which included a $30 tip -- was paid by Hernandez, using a credit card, at 12:18 a.m. on June 17.

In addition to food, the group ordered 30 alcoholic drinks -- 11 Hennessy cognacs, 2 Grey Goose vodkas, 7 Bud Lights and 10 drinks known as Sex on the Beach.

But previously released court documents show that by the time the first order was placed at the café Hernandez had allegedly begun sending a series of text messages, arranging a meeting for later in the night with Lloyd and summoning two alleged accomplices to meet him.

All of that was occurring just hours before Lloyd as killed.

The first message sent from Hernandez's cell phone went to a phone belonging to an associate, Ernest Wallace Jr. The message read: "please make it back cuZ I'm Def trying to step for alittle." About three minutes later, around 9:05 p.m., a text was sent from Hernandez's phone to Lloyd: "I'm coming to grab that tonight u gon b around I need dat and we could step for a little again."

At 9:35 p.m. -- just minutes before the first order was placed at the cafe -- a text was sent from Hernandez's phone to Wallace's phone: "Get ur as up here."

And at approximately the same time the first order was placed at the restaurant, Lloyd sent a text to Hernandez that read: "Aite, where."

Over the next 2 hours and 40 minutes, according to court documents, at least seven texts were sent from Hernandez's phone to Lloyd, to Wallace and to another associate, Carlos Ortiz.

The first, at 9:39 p.m., went from Hernandez's phone to Lloyd's: "idk it don't matter but imma hit u when I'm dat way like Las time if my phone dies imma hit u when I charge it which will be in a lil."

Prosecutors have alleged that Hernandez summoned Wallace and Ortiz from his hometown of Bristol, Connecticut, to his mansion in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, at the same time he was allegedly arranging to pick up Lloyd later in the evening.

At 10:21 p.m., a text from Ortiz's phone to Hernandez's phone read: "On r way a...God Bless."

Two minutes later, a text was sent from Hernandez's phone to Wallace's phone, according to court documents. It read: "Hurry ur as up n****."

According to court documents, Wallace and Ortiz arrived at Hernandez's home, where they were let in by a babysitter.

Images from Hernandez's home security system show that he and his fiancee, Shayanna Jenkins, arrived home at about 12:40 a.m.

Hernandez, a former New England Patriots star tight end, faces one count of murder and two firearms charges in the slaying of Lloyd, who was gunned down in a secluded field used to store dirt, asphalt and gravel. Lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-professional football player, was dating Shaneah Jenkins, sister of Hernandez's fiancee.

Prosecutors have alleged that Hernandez, Wallace and Ortiz headed to Boston early the morning of June 17, picked up Lloyd outside his home in the Dorchester neighborhood and returned to North Attleboro.

According to court documents, Hernandez allegedly drove into the field at 3:23 a.m. There, Lloyd was shot multiple times a few minutes later, according to prosecutors.

Although prosecutors have not said who they believe fired the fatal shots, they have asserted that Hernandez "orchestrated" the killing. Ortiz and Wallace also have been indicted on murder charges but will be tried separately. The prosecution does not plan to call either as witnesses in the trial.

Aaron Hernandez's attorneys have suggested that he was happy and talking about a future marriage and more children while at that Father's Day dinner hours before the murder of Lloyd.

That followed up on defense attorney Michael Fee's assertion during his opening statement -- that "in June of 2013, Aaron Hernandez was planning a future, not a murder."

Belanger testified that while Hernandez was at the cafe he also slipped outside with a friend to smoke pot.

“Did you have a conversation with the defendant and the other individual at that time?” prosecutor William McCauley asked.

“Yes,” Belanger answer. “I asked them to put it out because the other customers could smell it, and they did.”

When she was questioned by Fee, Belanger said Hernandez was polite and apologized after she asked him to put out the marijuana cigarette because the odor was wafting into the cafe.

“Aside from the conversation you had outside the restaurant, were there any other issues or problems?” Fee asked.

“No,” Belanger answered. “Nope -- none at all.”

“Just appeared to be a group having dinner and drinks and a good time?” Fee asked.

“Yep,” Belanger said. “Just a group of people having a casual time, food and drinks.”

But prosecutors at some point are going to juxtapose that image with the text messages from Hernandez's phone, which have not yet been entered into evidence. Defense attorneys sought to have those texts thrown out, but Judge E. Susan Garsh has ruled that they can be introduced.

Also Thursday, jurors saw video captured by surveillance cameras at a filling station where Hernandez, Ortiz and Wallace allegedly stopped on their way to Boston to pick up Lloyd.

The video showed Hernandez get out of the driver's seat of the silver Nissan Altima, pump gas and walk around the parking lot with his hands above his head. At one point, a man identified as Ortiz got out of the rear passenger seat, but Hernandez appears to tell him to get back into the car and then physically pushes him into the back seat.

Later, the two men entered the station, where Hernandez bought a package of bubble gum and a cigar.

A chewed piece of blue bubble gum was discovered in the Altima by an Enterprise employee, who threw it into a dumpster, where detectives later found it.

Most significant in the video, perhaps, were images of Ortiz with what appeared to be a white towel draped around his neck. A white towel was found on the ground not far from Lloyd's body -- the exact distance isn't known, because it wasn't measured by officers who picked it up ahead of a heavy rainstorm. However, jurors saw multiple pictures showing the location of the towel in proximity to Lloyd's body.

Defense attorneys are expected to argue that the presence of the towel is evidence that Ortiz got out of the car and was present when Lloyd was killed.

Testimony will resume Friday morning in a trial now entering its fifth week.

Hernandez has separately been indicted on multiple murder and assault charges in a July 16, 2012, shooting in South Boston that left two men dead and another wounded.

In the Boston killings, prosecutors have alleged that Hernandez became enraged after a man bumped him on a nightclub dance floor, spilling his drink, and failed to apologize. They alleged that Hernandez later followed the man and his friends as they drove away from the club, then pulled up next to their car at a stoplight and opened fire with a .38-caliber revolver, killing Daniel De Abreu, 29, and Safiro Furtado, 28, and wounding another man.

That trial originally was scheduled to begin May 28, but the judge there indicated recently he would push it back given the anticipated length of the trial in the Lloyd case. No new trial date has been set.