FALL RIVER, Mass. -- Jury selection is underway in Massachusetts in the murder trial of former
New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez.
Hernandez appeared Friday before about 125 potential jurors. A Bristol County Superior Court clerk read out the charges against him in the June 2013 shooting of Odin Lloyd.
Hernandez greeted jurors with a "good morning."
Each juror had an envelope containing a questionnaire. The judge asked them to fill it out completely and said they shouldn't discuss their jury service or the case with anyone.
More than 1,000 people are expected to report as prosecutors and defense lawyers haggle over who to seat on the jury. The process could take a week or more.
Hernandez, 25, is accused of killing Lloyd, a 27-year-old semiprofessional football player from Boston who was dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancée. At the time, Hernandez had a $40 million contract as a tight end with the Patriots.
Prosecutors say Hernandez and two other men, Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace, picked up Lloyd at his home in Boston's Dorchester section and took him to an industrial park near Hernandez's home in North Attleborough, where he was shot to death.
Hernandez sat impassively and looked around the room at people's faces as Justice Susan Garsh described the charges against him.
"I want to stress that the charges in the indictment are merely allegations -- claims if you will,'' Garsh told prospective jurors. The indictment, she said, "is not evidence of anything.''
Prosecutors haven't said who pulled the trigger, but said Hernandez orchestrated the killing. Ortiz and Wallace have pleaded not guilty to murder charges and will be tried separately. The murder weapon, which investigators believe was a .45-caliber Glock, has never been found.
Homie doing the TD Celebration in Court...
