FALL RIVER, Massachusetts — New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft marched into courtroom 7 at the Fall River Justice Center Tuesday and told jurors that two days after Odin Lloyd was found dead, former tight end Aaron Hernandez looked him in the eye and told him he was completely innocent.
“My main focus was understanding whether he was involved and what I could do to help him,” said Kraft. He came to court dressed in a blue button-down shirt, pink tie, and dark jacket, and was escorted in and out of the courthouse by police. He wore sneakers.
Kraft told jurors that when he showed up to Gillette Stadium two days after Odin Lloyd was killed, “there was a lot of media in the parking lot, and maybe some helicopters.” The day before, news reports had surfaced that police were interested in Hernandez, who had been a key member of the Patriots’ offense in the 2012 season.
Kraft said he found Hernandez in the weight room, with two of the strength coaches. He pulled the player, who had just finished his third NFL season, into a side office.
“What did you say to the defendant?” Bristol County Assistant District Attorney William McCauley asked.
“I understood that there was an incident that had transpired,” Kraft said. “I wanted to know whether he was involved, and if he was, I wanted to make sure he knows that every player that comes into our system I consider part of our extended family, and I wanted to get him help.”
Hernandez, Kraft said, told him, “He was not involved, that he was innocent, and that he hoped that the time of the murder came out because I believe he said he was in the club.”
After the brief conversation, Kraft said, Hernandez “hugged me and kissed me and thanked me for my concern.”
The hug and the kiss was a special greeting between the billionaire business mogul and the talented young player who had signed a 6-year, $40 million contract with the Patriots the previous year, Kraft testified under cross-examination.
Defense lawyer Michael Fee focused on Hernandez’s football accomplishments during Kraft’s testimony, reminding him that the Bristol, Connecticut, native was a first-team All-American and won an award given to the best tight end in the country during his college years.
“I don’t follow all those details,” Kraft said. “I know he was very good.”
He also could not remember specific details of Hernandez’s contract, and told Fee, “I just knew we signed him.”
When Fee put a copy of the contract in front of him, Kraft barked: “My memory isn’t to be refreshed because I don’t look into this. I OK it.”
Kraft asked McCauley to excuse his raspy voice because he had a cold. He chuckled when the prosecutor asked, as he does with every witness, whether he worked.
“And where do you work?”
“I work at 1 Patriot Place.”
“And what do you do for the work?”
“Whatever they ask me to.”
He described his company as a “paper products” company that owns two sports teams: the New England Patriots and the New England Revolution.
The Patriots’ former director of security, Mark Briggs, testified immediately after Kraft and told jurors about his conversation with Hernandez two days after Lloyd’s body was found.
He said he asked Hernandez why he “lawyered up.” Bristol County Superior Court Judge E. Susan Garsh reminded jurors that right to counsel is a “sacred right.”
Briggs explained that Hernandez told him he had been at a club with Lloyd the night of the shooting, but that they had left separately. The state’s evidence indicates that Hernandez went to a bar with his fiancée and two other couples hours before Lloyd’s slaying, and made plans to meet up with the victim afterwards.
Briggs said he asked Hernandez if he was telling the truth.
“He said he was telling the truth,” Briggs said. “He swore on his baby’s life he was telling the truth.”
Hernandez has a daughter, who was about 8 months old at the time.
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