Aaron Hernandez Murder Trial Update: Hernandez Said ‘My Endorsements Are Gone’ After Slaying, Witness Testifies

Aaron Hernandez was apparently concerned more about losing millions of dollars in endorsements in the days after he allegedly shot and killed onetime friend Odin Lloyd than the possibility of jail time, one witness testified in the former NFL star’s murder trial.

In the trial for the former New England Patriots star, his fiancée’s uncle testified that one day after Lloyd’s murder, Hernandez matter-of-factly told witnesses that his endorsement days were over.

Azia Jenkins testified that he was at Hernandez’s home the day after Lloyd was found dead. When a group went into a basement recreation room to play pool and watch Game 6 of the NBA Finals, a commercial came on that set off a strange reaction in Hernandez.

”Aaron said, ‘My endorsements are gone,”’ Azia Jenkins testified.

Aaron Hernandez didn’t elaborate, but he didn’t seem upset, Jenkins told the court.

Hernandez had endorsement deals with the sportswear company Puma and CytoSport, the company that makes Muscle Milk. He also had a $40 million contract from the New England Patriots, but was cut within hours of his arrest for murder.

So far, the murder trial of Aaron Hernandez has hinged largely on some blue bubble gum found in a banged-up rental car.

Keelia Smyth, who was the manager of the North Attleboro Enterprise rental car facility where Hernandez rented the car prosecutors say he drove to kill Lloyd, said the tight end could not explain why the Nissan Altima’s rear view mirror was missing.

“He said, ‘I just came out and it was like that,'” Smyth said.

Smyth found a shell casing in the car, which she threw away along with the blue gum. Police later fished both out of a dumpster, with both becoming key pieces of evidence.

The Boston Herald explained as follows.

“Smyth added that Hernandez had offered her a piece of the bubble gum at some point. Prosecutors have said the gum is a key part of the case because they have footage of Hernandez and his co-defendants – Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz – buying it before the murder.”

The Aaron Hernandez murder trial is expected to last for the next several weeks.