Aaron Hernandez Became Paranoid After Double-Murder, Told People to Stop Using iPhones: Prosecutors

It's day one for the Aaron Hernandez double murder trial and proceedings are underway. The former New England Patriots star tight end is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, three counts of armed assault with intent to murder, and single counts of assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, unlawful possession of a firearm, and intimidation of a witness.

Earlier today, the 15 jurors were sworn in and given directions by the judge. One juror was dismissed because a witness knows him. Of the remaining 15, 12 will be selected to deliberate and the other three will be alternates. Subscribe to your local Patch for news alerts and newsletters.

Hernandez is accused of killing Daniel de Abreu, 29, and Safiro Furtado, 28, in the Theater District in 2012. In his opening remarks, prosecutor Patrick M. Haggan told jurors that the victims and Hernandez didn’t know each other and their only association was over a spilled drink inside a club.

In July 2012, the two victims and three others went to Boston and spent the evening at Cure Lounge in the Theater District. Shortly afterward, Hernandez and his friend Alexander Bradley entered the club and remained there for about 10 minutes, Haggan said. During that short time frame, de Abreu, who was dancing, bumped into Hernandez and spilled his drink on him. Afterward, de Abreu smiled and walked away.

Haggan alleges that the incident sent Hernandez over the edge, believing that the action was a sign of disrespect.

“He always felt he was being tried and tested,” Haggan said. “Aaron Hernandez was agitated. He was upset, he was angry.”

Hernandez and Bradley left shortly after the incident and walked towards another club. While Hernandez allegedly said that de Abreu and his friends were following him, Haggan said the five didn’t leave Cure until closing time.

After smoking weed and driving around, Hernandez and Bradley returned to the Theater District at about 2:30 a.m. Armed with a revolver, Hernandez watched the victims and their friends leave the area near the club, enter the Tufts Medical Center parking garage on Tremont Street and leave in a BMW. As the BMW made its way to Dorchester to get something to eat, Hernandez’s silver Toyota SUV allegedly pulled up to the BMW, and the former football star leaned out the window, got the attention of the other vehicle, and shot de Abreu and Furtado, Haggan said, telling the jury that Hernandez kept pulling the trigger after all the bullets were shot.

While police and EMS responded to the scene at the intersection of Shawmut Avenue and Herald Street, Hernandez and Bradley drove to Bradley’s girlfriend’s home in Hartford. On the way, they disposed of evidence and asked Hernandez’s cousin to get rid of the car. The vehicle was placed in a garage in Connecticut and not used against.

“From that night, the morning after the murder the car that was used all the time that car vanished off the grid. It was placed in a garage with painted white windows,” Haggan said.

The weapon also went missing, until it showed up in the trunk of a vehicle involved in a February 2013 car crash in East Longmeadow.

The incident made Hernandez more paranoid, according to Haggan. He stopped using iPhones and told people around him to do the same because he was told in a Patriots security briefing that iPhones can be tracked. He thought that helicopters were following him and anyone in a club in a suit was a police officer.

That paranoia was on display in February 2013 when Hernandez told Bradley that a man in a suit in a South Florida club was a cop. Bradley replied, “They probably are because of the ****** up stuff you did up in Boston.”

That set Hernandez off, Haggan said. The next day, following a visit to a strip club that ended with the two fighting over a $10,000 bill, Bradley was taken to an industrial park in Revere Beach, Florida and shot in the face. Haggen said Bradley is alive because he put his hand in front of his face at the last possible moment.

Assuming that Bradley was dead, Hernandez allegedly began to text his friend’s girlfriend, asking where he was. Meanwhile, Bradley refused to talk to police or tell them who shot him.

Jose Baez, Hernandez’s attorney, rejected the state’s telling of the murder, pinning the shooting on Bradley, the man who provided marijuana to Hernandez.

“How could (Hernandez) throw it all away? He had everything. He had all these opportunities, what went wrong? The simple answer to that is Aaron Hernandez made terrible choices with whom he associated with,” Baez said.

Baez rejected the spilled drink story, arguing that there are no witnesses or video of the incident. He instead said the shooting happened because of a drug-related issue between de Abreu and Bradley

The defense also accused police and investigators of having little interest in the case until Hernandez was connected, then they were all in.

The trial is expected to last 4-6 weeks.

Hernandez was convicted of first-degree murder in a 2013 shooting and serving a life sentence without parole.

Photo by Josh Reynolds/The Boston Globe via AP