Marie Napoli on LawNewz Network: Aaron Hernandez Trial

Update: Aaron Hernandez was  found hanging from a bed sheet in his cell at the state prison in Shirley, MA. The apparent suicide of the former New England Patriots football player has left his family, friends and legal team in shock and disbelief.


This segment of LawNewz Network continued its discussion around the Aaron Hernandez Double Murder Trial. Mr. Hernandez’s lead attorney, Jose Baez, finished his closing arguments and Marie agrees that he did so very effectively. He used visuals that were easy to read and emphasized his key points, “Truth is not the truth.” In the days of “alternative facts”, this is a phrase to which jurors can relate. Baez also systematically poked holes in to the prosecution’s case. As Marie Napoli says, that is all he has to do , to put reasonable doubt into the minds of the jury.

Marie also made it clear that it comes down to the credibility of the prosecution’s witnesses, in particular their star witness, Alexander Bradley. Was he believable? At the end of the day, it seems like all the witness for the prosecution told the same story. This is unusual as most witnesses have a different memory of events or interpretations of what happened. Marie explained that it was up to the prosecution to take the pieces of the puzzle and put them together in such a way that told their story.

Marie was also curious to know whether or not the jury was aware that Aaron Hernandez is already serving time for another murder. Host Aaron Keller responded that he hoped that the process of voire dire (“jury selection”) would have taken care of that. It is certainly the hope that jurors come into a trial without predetermined biases or prejudices. With all the publicity surrounding these murder trials, is it possible to have an objective jury?