Aaron Hernandez, with his lawyer Charles Rankin, left, looked on in court on Thursday as an image of Odin Lloyd was displayed on a monitor. Hernandez is charged with killing Lloyd in June 2013. Credit Pool photo by Steven Senne
FALL RIVER, Mass. — Clanking could be heard outside the courtroom as the restraints were removed from Aaron Hernandez.
He wore a dark suit Thursday, just as his former teammates with the New England Patriots had worn coats and ties earlier in the week.
The difference was, they were flying to the Super Bowl and he was walking into his trial on a charge of first-degree murder.
Mr. Hernandez, 25, is charged with the murder of a friend and semiprofessional football player, Odin Lloyd, 27, who was found shot to death in a pit at an industrial park near Mr. Hernandez’s home in North Attleboro, Mass., on June 17, 2013. He has pleaded not guilty.
Mr. Lloyd, who was shot six times, had been dating the sister of Mr. Hernandez’s fiancée. Prosecutors have said that Mr. Hernandez orchestrated the murder several days after Mr. Lloyd spoke at a Boston bar with individuals whom Mr. Hernandez did not like.
During opening statements to the 12-woman, 6-man jury Thursday, Patrick Bomberg, the prosecutor, attempted to place Mr. Hernandez and Mr. Lloyd together at the time of the killing. He said that DNA matching the two men was found on a marijuana cigarette at the industrial park.
DNA evidence “consistent†with Mr. Hernandez’s was also found on a shell casing inside a Nissan Altima rented to the former tight end and driven by him the night of the shooting, Mr. Bomberg said.
The prosecutor said the casing matched casings of a .45-caliber Glock handgun that were found at the industrial park and used to shoot Mr. Lloyd. The gun itself has not been found.
A footprint matching the retro Air Jordan shoes that Mr. Hernandez wore that day were found at the industrial park, as well as a rear tire print matching that of a Nissan Altima, Mr. Bomberg said.
The footage from surveillance videos and the pings from cellphone activity place Mr. Hernandez and Mr. Lloyd together just before the killing and show Mr. Hernandez returning home without Mr. Lloyd in the rented Nissan, Mr. Bomberg said.
The prosecutor showed jurors home surveillance video that he said depicted Mr. Hernandez standing outside his basement and holding a gun after arriving home early on the morning of June 17, 2013.
Mr. Hernandez later destroyed some evidence and told others that he had been at a nightclub at the time of the shooting, Mr. Bomberg said.
“Having orchestrated the killing, you’ll hear the defendant orchestrated a cover-up,†Mr. Bomberg told jurors.
Prosecutors are not required to prove that Mr. Hernandez pulled the trigger to obtain a conviction, but have to show beyond a reasonable doubt that he knowingly participated in the commission of a crime and did so with criminal intent, Judge E. Susan Garsh told jurors.
The trial is taking place in Bristol County Superior Court, about an hour south of Boston, across the street from the home of another famous defendant — Lizzie Borden, who in 1893 was acquitted here of the ax murders of her father and stepmother.
Michael Fee, one of Mr. Hernandez’s lawyers, gave an impassioned defense of his client in his opening statement, saying, “Aaron Hernandez is an innocent man.â€
The police and prosecutors conducted a “sloppy and unprofessional†investigation, ignored or twisted evidence and unfairly targeted Mr. Hernandez from the beginning, Mr. Fee said.
As soon as it was determined that Mr. Hernandez, a celebrated N.F.L. player, was a friend of Mr. Lloyd’s, Mr. Fee said: “Aaron never had a chance. It was over.â€
Both sides acknowledged that Mr. Lloyd supplied Mr. Hernandez with marijuana and often partied together. But evidence that the two men were together shortly before the killing was not proof that Mr. Hernandez had committed a crime, Mr. Fee said.
Mr. Hernandez had no motive to kill Mr. Lloyd, Mr. Fee said.
At the time of the killing, Mr. Hernandez had recently played in the Super Bowl with New England against the Giants, had signed a $40 million contract extension and had a fiancée and a young daughter, Mr. Fee said.
“Aaron Hernandez was planning a future, not a murder,†Mr. Fee said.
Shayanna Jenkins, Mr. Hernandez’s fiancée, with whom he has a 2-year-old daughter, appeared in court Thursday. She and Mr. Hernandez gave each other brief, unsmiling glances as he entered the courtroom. Some observers have wondered whether Ms. Jenkins, who faces a charge of perjury relating to her testimony to a grand jury in the case, will testify against Mr. Hernandez.
The chances of that seemed to recede somewhat as Ms. Jenkins spoke congenially with Mr. Hernandez’s brother, D.J., an assistant football coach at the University of Iowa and a former quarterback at Connecticut.
Legal experts have said the case does not appear to be as open-and-shut as many once believed. No murder weapon has been located. No independent eyewitness has come forward publicly. Two friends of Mr. Hernandez’s who are also charged with murder and will be tried separately — Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace — are not on the state’s witness list.
Judge Garsh has also disallowed Twitter messages sent by Mr. Lloyd to his sister minutes before he was killed, saying that he was with “Nfl†and “just so you know.â€
Nor will prosecutors be allowed to mention additional murder charges that Mr. Hernandez faces for the 2012 shooting deaths of two men after they left a nightclub. Prosecutors have said one of the men accidentally spilled a drink on Mr. Hernandez at the club. He has pleaded not guilty in that case.
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