Jose Baez dishes on Aaron Hernandez’s final days, suicide, and Patriots trade talks
By Alana Cerrone
@Alana_Cerrone
ORLANDO, FL (WLNE) – ‘Unnecessary Roughness – Inside the Trial and Final Days of Aaron Hernandez’ is Jose Baez’s new book detailing the final days of his client, Aaron Hernandez.
Baez calls it, “the story of Aaron Hernandez that you’ve never heard before."
Baez says he wants to set the record straight as to who Hernandez really was.
"He was painted as a thug, a gang member… and he was none of those things. He was a big goofy kid who had plenty of issues don’t get me wrong…," Baez said.
Baez says he points out those issues in his book, and a whole lot more – including his relationship with Patriots Coach Bill Belichick.
“You reveal he actually requested to be traded back in 2013?"
"There was a marijuana trafficker threatening to kill him, threatening to kill his family, and he was afraid for their life. He flew to Indianapolis to the NFL combine and met privately with Belichick and requested to be traded because he feared for his safety. But the Patriots would have none of it," he said.
From football to family, Baez says he got to know Hernandez on an intimate level. Hernandez left a note to Baez, along with his daughter and fiancée, before killing himself just days after he was acquitted of a double murder.
"It was unbelievable – he was ecstatic, he was looking forward to the future. We talked about his goals, things he wanted to do …in the book you’ll see there’s this transformation from being Aaron, to somebody completely different that had visions of suicide and I believe that’s where the CTE took over and it was a battle he just couldn’t win."
About rumors that Hernandez was gay, Baez declined to comment, leaving that up to his fiancée, Shayanna Jenkins.
She wrote the foreword in the book, and part of it says:
"I saw no indication that he was gay or homosexual. I wish I had known how he felt, just so we could have talked about it."
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