It took the prosecution 39 days and 131 witnesses to attempt to prove that former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez killed Odin Lloyd in June 2013. It took Hernandez’s lawyers less than one day -- and only three witnesses -- to present his defense.
Per multiple reports, three witnesses were called, including an expert witness who testified about the effects of PCP use. The defense hopes to inject reasonable doubt into the case by suggesting that one of the two men who were with Hernandez and Lloyd (Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace) killed Lloyd while under the influence of PCP.
That theory would be more persuasive if Hernandez, Ortiz, or Wallace were to testify. But none of the other men who were with Lloyd were called to the stand.
Hernandez was never going to testify, because to do so would have squandered his right against self-incrimination. (Ortiz and Wallace likely would have asserted their own Fifth Amendment rights, too.) While the jury will be told not to hold the failure of Hernandez to testify against him, some of the jurors surely will wonder why Hernandez didn’t simply get on the stand and declare that Ortiz or Wallace shot Lloyd, if that’s what happened.
Via Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports, the prosecution has called one witness to the stand as part of its rebuttal case. Specifically, the prosecution has a witness who will rebut the claims made by Hernandez’s PCP expert.
Barring something unexpected, closing arguments will start Tuesday, and the jury will then begin deliberating its verdict.