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When the prosecution in Aaron Hernandez's murder trial agreed to give his fiancée Shayanna Jenkins immunity for her alleged role in the killing of semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd in exchange for her testimony earlier this year, everyone thought, "Uh oh. So this is how Aaron Hernandez is going to go down?" And when the prosecution called Jenkins to the witness stand on Friday, they thought, "Yup, this is how he's going to go down." It appeared as though Hernandez was going to be in big trouble once Jenkins testified.
As it turned out, though, Jenkins didn't roll over on Hernandez during her testimony. She spent the better part of two full days—Friday and today—fielding questions from both the prosecution and defense. And while she did reveal certain things that could end up helping the prosecution sink Hernandez, she didn't admit to getting rid of a murder weapon for him and she didn't say anything to tie him directly to Lloyd's murder. Instead, she said, "I don't remember," a lot and seemed to do everything in her power to say as little as possible.
But Jenkins did reveal a few things that stuck with us. She also testified for a long time (ten hours total!) and provided the jury in the trial with a lot of insight into her relationship with Hernandez. So we thought it'd be helpful to put together a list of Everything We Learned From Shayanna Jenkins' Testimony During Aaron Hernandez's Murder Trial. If you're trying to keep up with the trial, this should help you out.
She claimed Hernandez told her that he didn't kill Lloyd.
At the beginning of her testimony, the prosecution asked her what she said to Hernandez after he was initially questioned by police in connection with Lloyd's killing. "When Aaron got home from the police station, I asked if he did it," she said. "He said no and that was the extent of our conversation."
She said she didn't understand a cryptic text Hernandez sent her the day after Lloyd's death.
Hernandez sent Jenkins a text that said, "Go in back of the screen in movie room when u get home an there is the box avielle likes to play with in the tub jus in case u were looking for it!!! Member how u ruined that big tv lmao WAS JUST THINKIN bout that lol wink wink love u TTYL ….. K." She claimed that she didn't know what it meant.
She revealed that Hernandez kept a gun "in the junk drawer" inside the couple's kitchen.
She didn't know what kind of gun it was. But she did say that she wasn't happy about it being there and that she gave Hernandez a "stern look" when she realized that he had placed it there.
She said she is "estranged" from her sister Shaneah Jenkins, who was dating Lloyd at the time of his murder.
Jenkins described her relationship with her sibling as "estranged, sort of."
She claimed that she "wasn't sure" if Hernandez told her about the "flop house" he rented in Franklin, Mass.
Jenkins' testimony was filled with a lot of very vague answers. One of them came when she was asked about the apartment Hernandez reportedly rented, the one where he allegedly tried to kiss the couple's babysitter.
She admitted Hernandez was smoking weed "on a daily basis" prior to his arrest in June 2013.
"It was frequent," Jenkins said, before answering, "Yes," when she was asked if Hernandez used marijuana everyday. She also said that Hernandez's barber used to come to the couple's house regularly to give him a haircut and deliver marijuana to him.
She revealed that both her and Hernandez were intoxicated on the night Lloyd was murdered.
She was drinking cranberry juice and Grey Goose that night and, according to a receipt that was shown in court, he was drinking Hennessy.
She said was asked to meet up with Hernandez's co-defendant Ernest "Bo" Wallace the day after Lloyd's murder to give him money.
According to her, Hernandez called Jenkins from jail and told her that she needed to meet Wallace to give him $500. She drove to meet him at 1 a.m. with the couple's daughter in the car and gave him the money in a McDonald's parking lot.
She admitted Hernandez used her cell phone to text Wallace the night of Lloyd's murder.
She told the court that she wouldn't have any reason to text Wallace herself.
She claimed Hernandez told her to get rid of a cardboard box from the basement of the couple's home but that she didn't know what was in it.
The prosecution believes that the murder weapon may have been inside of the box. However, Jenkins said that she didn't look inside before discarding the box and also said that there were more boxes inside of the box which prevented her from seeing into it. She admitted to getting rid of the box and said that she threw it into a dumpster, but she said she couldn't remember where that dumpster was located.
She said she didn't recognize the Air Jordan XI sneakers that prosecutors believe Hernandez was wearing when he killed Lloyd.
A Nike representative testified about the Jordan XI sneakers recently, and police recovered a Jordan XI box from the couple's home. But Jenkins said they didn't look familiar to her.
She replied, "I hope so," when she was asked if Hernandez is the father of her daughter.
Jenkins smiled when a lawyer from Hernandez's defense team started his questioning of her by asking her about her daughter.
She confessed she left Hernandez once because she found out he was cheating on her.
The defense asked Jenkins a lot of questions about her relationship with Hernandez. She admitted that infidelity had been a problem in the past—and admitted to moving out of Hernandez's home once because of it—but she said, "Our bond was too strong," which is why she eventually got back together with him.
She said that her and Hernandez had planned on getting married in April 2014.
The couple was engaged in October 2012 and, according to Jenkins, they were planning on tying the knot about a year ago.
She indicated that she believes the box Hernandez asked her to move may have contained marijuana.
She revealed that the box had "a skunky smell" to it and that it smelled like "marijuana" when the defense asked her to describe what was inside. She also said that it weighed about 25 pounds.
She said she couldn't wait to finish testifying.
After being on the stand for ten hours over two days, Jenkins was ready to go home when she stepped down today.
