The case against Aaron Hernandez: Where are the shoes?

“The shoes and footprints caused by the shoes (are) a big deal,” says CNN legal analyst Paul Callan, a former homicide prosecutor.

A big deal because connecting an athletic shoe impression found near Lloyd’s body to Hernandez could help prove he directly participated in Lloyd’s death.

Lloyd, 27, was shot once in the back and six times in the front in June 2013 — the final two bullets fired as he lay face up, according to the medical examiner. Hernandez has pleaded not guilty.

Aaron Hernandez’s downward spiral

But when police searched the home on November 24, they didn’t find the shoes.

Details about the missing Nike sneakers have not yet come up at trial. How might it play with the jury?

“Jurors will wonder why didn’t investigators seize the shoes at the same time they seized many other pieces of evidence from Hernandez’s home,” says University of New Hampshire law professor Michael McMann, who’s closely monitoring the trial.

“If jurors determine investigators and prosecutors simply made a mistake in not seizing the shoes, it could damage the jurors’ confidence in the case. It’s possible prosecutors could try to mollify this concern by noting that rules of evidence and pretrial discovery limit the types of evidence they can be taken from a person’s home.”

CNN