When your star witness is a career criminal and drug addict there are going to be problems. Carlos Ortiz was in the car with Hernandez, Ernest Washington and the murder victim Odin Lloyd. He claims he never got out of the car and Washington told him that Hernandez shot Lloyd, but according to the defense, he is lying to get a better deal from the prosecution.
A white towel found on the ground near murder victim Odin Lloyd’s body may give defense attorneys a powerful opening to attack the credibility of the key witness against former New England Patriotstight end Aaron Hernandez.
With it, attorneys for Hernandez have a piece of evidence they could use to assert that Carlos Ortiz — one of three men allegedly present when the former football star is accused of killing Lloyd — was lying when he told investigators he never got out of the car and didn’t actually see the murder.
The significance of the towel is not spelled out, but much of the timeline laid out by prosecutors is based on cell phone records and surveillance camera images. Among them is film that prosecutors have alleged shows Hernandez, Wallace and Ortiz stop at a filling station on the way to Boston to pick up Lloyd.
In an affidavit, a detective described the back-seat passenger – allegedly Ortiz – getting out of the vehicle and that he “appears to have a light-colored towel draped around his neck.”
Ortiz’s cross-examination that might go like this: “If you’re lying about getting out of the car, why should we believe anything else you say? If you’re lying about getting out of the car, why are you lying about getting out of the car?”
Remember, there just has to be reasonable doubt that Hernandez wasn’t the shooter. Doesn’t mean that he’s innocent, but if the jury believes Ortiz or Washington was the shooter, then legally they have to find Hernandez not guilty.
It is going to be an interesting case to watch.