Witness testifies after killing, Hernandez said ‘endorsements gone’

February 18, 2015 6:30 pm

By: Melissa Randall
mrandall@abc6
@MRandallABC6

The uncle of Aaron Hernandez’s fiancé took the stand in day 10 of the murder trail. He delivered eye brow raising testimony. Azia Jenkins was at the former Patriot players home the day after Odin Lloyds bullet riddled body was discovered.

He left the North Attleboro home for a period of time and was questioned by police who later brought him back. Jenkins testified that he and Hernandez were in the basement watching TV. A commercial apparently jogged something in Hernandez’s mind and Jenkins says the 25-year-old said something that stuck with him.

“It was me who said something first and then Aaron said ‘my endorsements’ are gone,” he testified.

The prosecution followed up by asked how Hernandez appeared that night.

Jenkins replied, “like Aaron,” elaborating that meant, “calm, cool,” and “collected.”

The manager at the North Attleboro Enterprise car rental branch also took the witness stand. Keelia Smyth testified about Hernandez returning a Nissan Altima with the broken mirror in June of 2013.

“I asked him about the damage and he said he didn’t know what happened. Just came out and it was like that. He apologized. Said he doesn’t damage cars,” she said.

Smyth also testified about tossing the items left in that car– including blue gum and a shell casing– into a dumpster. She said they were found in the damaged vehicle when she was cleaning it out and that she picked them up using a child’s drawing also found inside.

The witness was also asked about toll violations made the night of the murder.

Later in the day the defense became testy with a forensic chemist for mass state police over techniques used to collect key pieces of evidence— specifically the gum, shell casing and a white towel found near Lloyds body in the gravel pit. Those items are the ones with DNA.

“If the towel were still there when you got there would you have measured the distance between the body and the towel?” asked James Sultan. “I don’t know. I wasn’t able to do so,” replied Alanna Frederick, the chemist.

Investigators bagged it before she got to the crime scene as they were trying to beat the rain. There is surveillance video of co–defendant Carlos Ortiz with a white towel around his neck.

After the jury went home a hearing about a potential witness was held. That witness is a friend of Hernandez’s that the prosecution says can tie him to a 45 caliber gun— that’s the kind used to kill Lloyd. The judge ruled Robert Paradis will not be allowed to testify.