NFL Murder Suspect Aaron Hernandez “Clearly Was Gay,” Says Attorney
An attorney for former NFL player Aaron Hernandez says his client’s homosexuality was the main reason prosecutors accused him of the 2012 murders of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado.
In Aaron Hernandez Uncovered, which premiered Saturday night on Oxygen, George Leontire said he spoke with Hernandez about being gay before the athlete committed suicide. [“He] acknowledged it. Acknowledged the immense pain that it caused him.”
The 27-year-old tight end “came out of a culture that was so negative about gay people that he exhibited some self-hatred,” Leontire added.
Hernandez was convicted of murdering semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd in 2013, with some claiming it was to keep Lloyd from telling Hernandez's fiancée, Shayanna Jenkins, about his sexuality.
Hernandez was already imprisoned for killing Lloyd when he was charged with de Abreu’s and Furtado’s deaths. Leontire says prosecutors had little evidence and attempted to use his sexuality to fuel their case.
“As a gay lawyer for 37 years, as a gay man who has been married to another man for over 36 years, I found it outrageous that the government would be trying to use someone's sexuality to prop up a case that they had no business bringing in the first place.”
Also in the special, Alyssa Anderson, Hernandez’s college girlfriend, said she suspected Hernandez was gay and even caught him texting men while they were dating. “Back in college, there were text messages I saw on his phone when he came back from a trip [that were] from a male,” she revealed. “[They] didn't have a name, didn't really say too much, but it was a relationship with somebody and I questioned it.”
While he denied being gay while they were together, Anderson says he admitted it in letters they exchanged while he was incarcerated. “Please keep between this,” he reportedly wrote. “But it's not a shock, you caught me lol.”
Hernandez took his life in prison in 2017, just five days after being acquitted of the double murders.