Robert Kraft Testifies in Hernandez Case: ‘He Said He Was Innocent’ – Boston.com

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft took the stand at the Aaron Hernandez murder trial in Bristol Superior Court today, telling the jury that he met with the former Patriots tight end two days after Hernandez’s friend Odin Lloyd was murdered.

Both the prosecution, led by William McCauley, and defense questioned Kraft as a witness, asking about the details of the June 19, 2013 meeting, and whether or not Kraft knew details about Hernandez’s home life.

Kraft told the lawyers he met with the former Patriot alone in a Gillette Stadium office to ask him directly if he had been involved in Lloyd’s murder.

Using an affidavit of the conversation prepared afterwards, the defense asked if Kraft recalled asking Hernandez to look him in the eye and tell him whether or not he had anything to do with the crime. “I understood there was an incident that had transpired and I wanted to know whether he was involved,” Kraft said. “He said he was innocent.”

McCauley said in court that the affidavit was dated August 19, 2013— two months after the conversation occurred. Kraft struggled to answer lawyers’ questions directly, trying to explain that he wasn’t entirely positive what was actually said each time they showed him the affidavit to “refresh his memory.”

“He hoped that the time of the murder came out because he was in a club,” Kraft said. The owner confirmed that Hernandez “hugged and kissed” him before departing from the meeting, a customary greeting and farewell between the two at the time.

The cross-examination was littered with objections from both sides of the court room, especially when McCauley started reading verbatim from the affidavit. The defense was also shot down when attorney Michael Fee asked if the player wrote Kraft a check for $50,000 to a foundation dedicated to the memory of his late wife, Myra Kraft, soon after the Patriots renewed Hernandez’s contract.

Hernandez, 25, has pleaded not guilty to first degree murder and illegal gun charges in the case. He also faces separate murder charges related to a 2012 double homicide in Boston’s South End.