The reaction to conviction of Aaron Hernandez is telling



The Gazette:

"Be strong. Be strong." — Mouthed by Aaron Hernandez to his mother and fiancee after the guilty verdict was announced.

"I forgive the hands of the people that had a hand in my son's murder, either before or after." — Odin Lloyd's mother, Ursula Ward, in victim-impact statement.

"Odin was the first born of three children. Odin was my only son. Odin was the backbone of the family. Odin was the man of the house. Odin was his sisters' keeper." — Odin Lloyd's mother, Ursula Ward.

"At the age of 25, I was asked to write my brother's eulogy, the hardest thing I've ever done in my life." - Odin Lloyd's sister, Olivia Thibou.

"Based on the fundamental building blocks they were missing — no confession, no eyewitness, not a really solid motive — I thought it was going to be a not guilty." — Suffolk University Law professor Christopher Dearborn.

"The celebrity status meant very little as the trial went on. I think over time the jurors made a decision, and the decision was who killed Odin Lloyd and why. It wasn't about Hernandez being a New England Patriot." — Former Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone.

The 12 jurors spoke loud and clear on the charge of first-degree murder in the Aaron Hernandez case in the deadly late-night shooting of Odin Lloyd. Of the 131 witnesses to take the stand, perhaps the most important one may have been New England Patriots' owner, Robert Kraft. The Patriots' owner pointed out that Aaron Hernandez had lied to him. Aaron Hernandez stated that he was at "a nightclub at the time of the killing. He wanted to know when they would announce the time of the murder."

The jury was still unclear as to the time of the murder of Odin Lloyd. For Aaron Hernandez to ask for the time of the killing, in the mind of the jury, placed him at the scene of the crime. While only six of the 15 jurors raised their hands when asked if they were Patriots fans, many were sympathetic to owner Bob Kraft. Some jurors claimed to not know who he was. Bob had a head cold during his testimony, and struggled on the witness stand.

It is ironic that the New England Patriots' owner Bob Kraft befriended TE Aaron Hernandez with their greetings generally ending in a hug. Bob's testimony severed those ties. A $40 million contract was not enough to keep a key member of the NFL's model franchise in line. The final result is a bunk in a cell just three miles from Gillette Stadium for life.

There are no winners.


Paul Murphy is a freelance writer from New Hampshire. .

Follow me on Twitter at @_prmurphy

For more of my articles, click here.

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