Hernandez defense attorneys square off with prosecution's key witness

BOSTON — A lawyer for former NFL star Aaron Hernandez has aggressively questioned the prosecution's star witness against Hernandez in his double-murder trial.

Attorney Jose Baez grilled Alexander Bradley on Tuesday about his claim that Hernandez killed two men after one of them accidentally spilled his drink at a Boston nightclub in 2012. Bradley said Hernandez opened fire while Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado waited at a stoplight.

Under cross-examination, Bradley acknowledged that he has sold drugs for about 17 years. Baez contended during opening statements that Bradley - not Hernandez - shot the men over a drug deal.

Bradley and Hernandez were once close friends. Hernandez is also charged with witness intimidation and accused of shooting Bradley in the face because he feared Bradley would tell authorities about the slayings.

Bradley was on the stand for nearly six hours Monday and has been given immunity for his testimony.

He said he was the only person who saw Daniel De Abreu bump into Hernandez inside the Cure nightclub, spilling his drink.

Bradley said Hernandez believed De Abreau was taunting him and was driving the former Patriots player’s SUV when he pulled a gun from the glove box, firing outside the driver’s side window from the passenger’s seat.

De Abreau and Safiro Furtado were killed.

“He said to me, ‘Did I see that,’ and I said, ‘no,’” Bradley said in court Monday. “And he said, ‘I hit one in the head and one in the chest.’”

Bradley said Hernandez went on to have nightmares and became paranoid about the shootings. He also described how Hernandez shot him and left him for dead after the two left a Florida nightclub months later.

“(The bullet) went through my hand and blew my finger off,” Bradley said. “Part of my finger went into my head and blew my eye out.”

It’s expected that Hernandez’s lawyers will focus on Bradley’s troubled past on the stand. They have already suggested that he was the one who pulled the trigger killing the two men.

Associated Press