New England Patriots

‘He Died in My Hands': Survivors of Fatal Shooting Testify in Aaron Hernandez Double Murder Trial

Jurors in the double murder trial of former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez heard from two survivors of the 2012 shooting as testimony resumed on Wednesday morning.

Aquilino Freire, who survived the shooting that killed Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado, described the incident in detail, saying he and his friends were in a car at a stoplight when a silver SUV pulled up alongside them and shots rang out.

Freire said he tried to help de Abreu. "He was trying to talk. He was dying."

Just before noon, Raychides Sanches took the stand. He was in the back seat behind Furtado when the shots were fired. He said the four friends were headed to get something to eat after leaving the club, but they never made it.

"The car came quick," he said. "They started shooting crazy."

After the shooting, Sanches said he went to de Abreu.

"He died in my hands," he said.

Sanches' testimony was suspended just before 2 p.m. after the defense filed an emergency motion seeking to reverse the judge's decision to allow into evidence audio recordings of statements made by Sanches about the shooter days after the killings. 

The motion said the prosecution was "attempting to admit hearsay that it will argue fits the description of our client." The judge ultimately denied the motion.

Prosecutors accuse Hernandez of gunning down de Abreu and Furtado after one of them bumped into him at Cure Lounge, a Boston nightclub, spilling his drink. He has pleaded not guilty.

Earlier on Wednesday, a judge decided to allow a camera to film proceedings in the Hernandez trial after a pool camera inadvertently filmed the jury the day before.

Hernandez's attorney, Jose Baez, told the judge he wasn't concerned about the camera showing the jury, but rather that the camera shows his defense table, saying "this is the second-worst I've seen" in terms of camera privilege.

The judge decided it was a camera malfunction that led to the jury being filmed, but added that this was the only time he would excuse it.

"This isn't baseball. There aren't three strikes," he said.

He also ordered the media to not film papers or computer screens on the defense table, but suggested Baez not use a laptop in court.

Hernandez was sentenced to serve a life sentence without parole after he was convicted of murdering semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd.

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