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Aaron Hernandez oddly elects to hire Casey Anthony attorney for next murder trial

Among the neutral observers of Aaron Hernandez's 2015 murder trial in Massachusetts – a group that included the jury – there were two generally agreed-upon facts.

1. Hernandez was guilty of killing Odin Lloyd, a crime for which he is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

2. Hernandez's defense team of James Sultan, Charles Rankin and Michael Fee were really good. As in good enough to fight every last point so aggressively that they repeatedly twisted up arguments across the eight-week trial until everyone remembered the undeniable facts (murder location, surveillance video, shell casings, etc.) that led to conclusion No. 1.

Aaron Hernandez attends a pre-trial hearing at Suffolk Superior Court on Dec. 22, 2015, in Boston. (AP)
Aaron Hernandez attends a pre-trial hearing at Suffolk Superior Court on Dec. 22, 2015, in Boston. (AP)

Hernandez apparently saw point No. 2 differently. The former New England Patriots tight end has fired his original defense team as he prepares for a second murder trial later this year on an unrelated, 2012 double homicide in Boston.

Enter Jose Baez, famous for gaining an acquittal for young Florida mother Casey Anthony in a high-profile case where she was charged with killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, in 2011. Harvard Law professor Ronald S. Sullivan and New York-based attorney Alex Spiro will join Baez. They will also take over the appeal of the conviction of murdering Lloyd, the boyfriend of the sister of Hernandez's fiancée.

"We understand that numerous reports of our client's alleged activity have been published, but we ask the public to afford Mr. Hernandez the presumption of innocence and let the facts unfold in a court of law," Baez said in a statement confirming his hiring. "Mr. Hernandez strongly maintains his innocence, and I plan to establish that before a jury of his peers."

Helping Casey Anthony beat the rap was no small task, but Baez is facing an even more daunting challenge here. As strong as the case against Hernandez was in the murder of Lloyd, the case scheduled to begin in late summer in Suffolk County (Mass.) has always been considered even stronger.

Prosecutors allege Hernandez murdered Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado, two Cape Verdean immigrants, after Abreu accidently spilled a drink on the former NFL player at a Boston nightclub in the summer of 2012.

Hernandez grew so enraged he waited outside the club, circling the block in his SUV until the group left, according to the state. He then pulled up alongside them at a stoplight down the street and unloaded a .38 caliber revolver into the group's car, killing two and injuring another as two others fled.

There is ample surveillance video in the Commonwealth's case, plus the presence of an eyewitness, former Hernandez friend Alexander Bradley. Bradley is expected to testify that Hernandez plotted the attack and kept pulling the trigger long after all bullets were fired and later bragged about hitting one of the men in the chest.

In February 2013, about six months after the double homicide and five months before killing Lloyd, Hernandez allegedly shot Bradley in the eye and left him to die alongside a John Deere dealership in South Florida. The two were either arguing over a bar tab from a night at a gentlemen's club or Hernandez was trying to silence a potential witness. It's impossible to know for sure.

In between the two events, Hernandez played an entire NFL season for the New England Patriots.

How Baez and company plan on dealing with the evidence is anyone's guess. Also in question is why they'd even attempt it? Hernandez appears to be in a dire financial state, forced to sell his North Attleboro, McMansion to help offset debt. His $40 million-plus contract with the Patriots was voided soon after his arrest. He played just three years in the league, not long enough to amass truly great wealth. And his previous lawyers weren't working pro bono.

Casey Anthony, front right, walks out of the Orange County Jail with her attorney Jose Baez on July 17, 2011. (AP file photo)
Casey Anthony, front right, walks out of the Orange County Jail with her attorney Jose Baez on July 17, 2011. (AP file photo)

As for any shot at overturning the Lloyd murder conviction, Sultan and Rankin are considered preeminent appellate attorneys, yet their initial application for an appeal was denied last year.

The odds here are immense.

Baez has thus far offered no strategy, just a promise to prove Hernandez's innocence. The Anthony case was a circus, with wall-to-wall coverage of a crime that shocked America and quickly descended into a tabloid soap opera. How tabloid? Just last month, a private investigator for Baez alleged in court documents that Anthony confessed to Baez she killed Caylee, and due to a lack of funds she paid the lawyer with sex. Baez denied it.

There is no word on Hernandez’s payment plan. Regardless, the case made Baez famous. But the second Hernandez case will get scant attention in comparison. And since Hernandez is already in prison, the stakes aren’t as great.

Still, that's what Hernandez is going with. He had three of the best attorneys in Massachusetts and lost. Now he's going with a guy from Florida whose website boasts testimonials from Geraldo Rivera, Sean Hannity and Barbara Walters.

"One of the greatest trial lawyers of all time," Geraldo said.

If Hernandez is ever going to win, Baez better be.