What You Missed at the Aaron Hernandez Arraignment

It was not the most action-packed legal preceding.

Aaron Hernandez

Image Credit: Associated Press

With the usual media fanfare that often surrounds his court appearances, Aaron Hernandez arrived in court Friday afternoon for his arraignment. The big things to watch out for were his guilty or not guilty pleas as well as a presumed fight over bail. Neither portion of the hearing was super dramatic.

Wearing a suit jacket and shirt without a tie, as has become his de rigueur court fashion, Hernandez mono-tonally pled “not guilty” to each of the charges read aloud. His lawyers, meanwhile, said they wouldn’t address the bail issue at this hearing, but asked the judge for an opportunity to bring it up at a later date.

Indeed, probably the strangest proceedings in court today were the incidental details. Hernandez was reportedly reading Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie in prison, which, if that’s a PR move orchestrated by the lawyers, it’s an awfully ham-handed one. What a cliched “nice people read this” book, right? I mean, if you’re going to be ridiculous about it, just get him The Bible. On the other hand, if Hernandez has actually selected that tome instead of one of the other billion books published in English … well, we’ve learned something odd about Aaron Hernandez today. Not sure what. But something.

And then there were the inevitable, banal Aaron Hernandez supporters that came out to see their boy, because of course he has supporters. If Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has fan girls, there’s not an alleged criminal on earth who doesn’t get fan girls. Anyway, their doings were documented on Twitter by Boston Globe reporter Wesley Lowry:

“I’m a loyal Patriots fan.” Well done Team Aaron 81 lady. Just Grade A trolling right there. We applaud you. And with that, see you all October 9 for another pre-trial hearing… Ha. “Loyal Patriots fan.” Get out of here.