Former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez Charged with First Degree Murder of 27 Year Old Odin Lloyd

Former New England Patriot TE Aaron Hernandez was arraigned this afternoon in Attenborough District court and was charged with the first degree murder of 27 year old Odin Lloyd. First degree murder, not second? Wow, the prosecutors must believe they can prove that  Odin Lloyd’s killing was planned and deliberate. Hernandez was charged with one count of first degree murder and also faces one charge of firearm possession without a license and two charges each of possession of a large capacity firearm and firearm possession without an ID card. Aaron Hernandez is being held without bail. From a brand new $40 million five year contract with the New England Patriots, to arrested, cut by the Patriots, and charged with murder … what a complete waste.

Watch today’s arraignment.

Aaron Hernandez has been charged with murdering his friend after the two had a dispute during a trip to a nightclub.

Hernandez was arrested Wednesday and charged with the first-degree murder of 27-year-old Odin Lloyd, a semipro football player whose body was found in an industrial park about a mile from the former New England Patriots tight end’s home.

More from USA Today and the first degree murder charges.

The criminal complaint against Hernandez, 23, states that “On 6/17/13, [he] did assault and beat Odin Lloyd with intent to murder such person, and by such assault and beating, did kill and murder such person.”

Bristol County first assistant attorney William McCauley presented his initial findings to Judge Daniel J. O’Shea, saying that Hernandez “orchestrated the execution” of Lloyd. At no point did McCauley claim that it was Hernandez himself who pulled the trigger.

Hernandez’s attorney Michael Fee called the prosecution’s argument “a circumstantial case, not a strong case.”

The charged atmosphere in the standing room only courtroom grew when McCauley began describing the alleged timeline of events in the early hours of June 17. McCauley described how Hernandez’s movements were pieced together with cell phone tower tracking, text messages and surveillance cameras.

Prosecutors allege that Hernandez picked up Lloyd around 2:30 a.m. on June 17th and that they drove through Boston before heading back to North Attleborough. McCauley claimed that Hernandez was unhappy that Lloyd had spoken with people that he didn’t like at Boston nightclub several nights earlier. The prosecutor alleges that several people heard multiple gun shots near an industrial park close to Hernandez’s home around 3:23 a.m. and says that home surveillance cameras captured Hernandez carrying a semiautomatic firearm as he and two other men returned to his home at 3:30 a.m.