Community Corner

Kraft on Hernandez: "I've Been Duped"

Speaking to reporters from the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, and ESPN Boston, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft spoke for the first time about the Aaron Hernandez murder investigation saying, "If this stuff is true, then I've been duped and our whole organization has been duped."
The comments were the first Kraft has made concerning Hernandez since the murder allegations as he was in Europe when the investigation began. Meeting with reporters for 40-minutes on his first business day back in the country, Kraft said he felt it was important for the Patriots' fan base to hear directly from the organization.

Kraft said he was speaking to reporters against the advice of his general council and started with a prewritten statement that said, "Following Aaron's arrest, I read a number of different accounts of how things transpired in our organization. Let me be clear: We decided the week prior to Aaron's arrest that if Aaron was arrested in connection with the Lloyd murder case that we would cut him immediately after.  The rationale behind that decision was that if any member of the New England Patriots organization is close enough to a murder investigation to actually get arrested -- whether it be for obstruction of justice or the crime itself, it is too close to an unthinkable act for that person to be part of this organization going forward."

According to Kraft, Hernandez was always police and respectful when he was inside Gillette Stadium. He also shared a 2010 letter from Hernandez addressing his marijuana use in college. In the letter, Hernandez agreed to biweekly drug tests during his rookie season if he was drafted by the Patriots and tie any guaranteed portion of his rookie compensation to the drug tests.



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