Unnecessary Roughness: Inside the Trial and Final Days of Aaron Hernandez Hardcover – Illustrated, August 21, 2018

Great book. It reiterated the fact that the police and prosecutors of America will invent and rewrite history of they are not closely watched. The justice system of America wields way too much power to run unchecked. If a District Attorney sees fit to indict you then the Grand Jury will more than likely side with them and the police, judges and even public defenders will fall in line because these people are all coworkers. They do not want to step on each other's toes. The same way that we stand up for coworkers in the face of adversity is exactly what they do. Some go to the extreme though. Lying and covering up facts that not only affects the lives of others but the existence of us all. To give any group of people or agency full autonomy to lie, maim and kill however they see fit is a mistake we have made in America. Just like the detective who actually wrote the complete truth in his report, there are good cops, prosecutors and judges but these organizations have always been overwhelmingly corrupt. It just seems more prevalent in today's society where anyone with a smart phone can be a reporter. What they did to Aaron Hernandez is what has been done to minorities for years. I wish that we all had a Johnny Cochran or Jose Baez. The prosecutor in this case reached a new low by trying to out this poor boy. It should be as repulsive to us as a people for anyone to attack someone's sexuality as it is to attack their race. It was a cheap shot that only made the prosecutor's case and him that much more pathetic. I know how that feels. My son was run down and knowingly drug to death by a guy in the parking lot of a bar. The driver was upset because he was beat up in a fight on the other side of the parking lot so he ran down 5 strangers. The first 4 survived. My baby was last and somehow became stuck underneath the car. This was on the driver's second pass through the lot. My son never saw it coming. While people ran beside his car shouting that he was dragging my son he never slowed down. He eventually hit a gate but by then my baby was in pieces. He was 25, had graduated nursing school at the top of his class and was an Intenviewe Care Nurse. But the first news article was not about the horrible man who did this but had the headline "Bisexual man killed in parking lot of gay bar." As if that was what was important. My son wasn't even bisexual, he was gay. And it did not take away from his awesomeness, it added to it. He was loved by his mother unconditionally. He tutored, he volunteered and he gave back to his community. I had him and his sister at by 17. Both university graduates that have NEVER ran afoul of the law but his being gay is what was news? If the article said "black man" everyone would have reacted differently and I do believe that killer, that was charged with multiple charges of vehicular assault and murder, would not be out on bond if my son was not a gay minority. I know it's a long shot but I hope Mr. Baez reads this. I lost my son in the wee hours of March 22, 2018. His name was Jared Jacobs. He was an awesome loving kid and a great man. His only crime was being gay and black so to the justice system he already had 2 strikes against him. I wish that I could somehow fight for justice for my son. I'm pretty sure that he won't receive any. His killer was kicked back on the streets within 24 hours and all the ADA said to me was " he had the money so there was nothing I can do. " There won't be a trial for "3 to 4 years" , I was told. So the man who purposely killed my son on about 8 different phone videos gets to walk around free and when he does go to trial he gets to leave out of the same door as I do. Like there is any shred of doubt of what he did. He gets to be home with his mom. As if he had that right. He had petty theft and drug charges before he decided to mow down 5 people on tape because he was scared or sad or angry or whatever. He was a criminal who hit my good boy. An that's not just a mother's jaded view. But all he is remembered for is being gay. What the he'll is wrong with us??!

I followed Aaron Hernandez’s trial with great interest and can say with confidence that I have read and watched *everything* publicly available on the case. From trial transcripts to news articles to Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez’s appearance on Dr. Phil to the special on Oxygen to even that horrid James Patterson novel that I tore apart in a review here on Amazon—I have consumed everything I can find. I read the book against that backdrop of information and concluded:1. This book is by far the best resource on the Hernandez case.Hernandez was so secretive and, amazingly enough, the family and friends who were closest to him (so, not his brother and mother) have remained mostly mum. As a result, there has not been any illumination of his thoughts and decisions and reasons. Unless Baez is wholesale fabricating most of the book (doubtful since he has Hernandez-Jenkins’s approval), he got very close to Aaron and became one of his few confidants. As a result, this book really sheds light on Hernandez in a way never seen before.2. This book answers controversial questions.From Hernandez’s sexuality to the full text of his suicide notes to the lifestyles of the Cape Verdeans he was accused of murdering, Baez touches on topics that were hitherto unaddressed or for which confusing accounts exist. Virtually any question that has been on answered until now is addressed in this book. Having had my time wasted by James Patterson’s account, I really appreciated that Baez made this read worthwhile.3. The book is respectful both to Hernandez and to the victims.Whenever I read that an attorney is going to write a tell-all book on his client, my instinctive reaction is disgust. I think I am in the majority on that. Baez took what could have been a very sleazy exercise and makes it feel almost like the kind of book Hernandez himself might have written had he been able to tell his own story. Baez is true to his loyalty to his client and his love of Hernandez humanizes Hernandez in a way I did not think possible. Out of nowhere, I found my heart breaking not only for the victims, but also for the loss of a young, talented man who fought his way up from poverty with sheer force of will and talent only to fall so far short of what he should have been. I did not expect to sympathize with Hernandez. I also found myself believing that the acquittal in the second trial was the right verdict. I did not expect that. At the same time, Baez is fair to the victims. Such balance is not easy to achieve.4. This is book gives insight into Baez and is an excellent primer in how to try a criminal case.I picked up this book as much to learn about Jose Baez as to deepen my understanding of Aaron Hernandez. As a fellow litigator, I have long been intrigued by Baez. Despite media depictions of him as what happens when a bumbling, oafish cretin is crossed with a money-grubbing ambulance-chaser who will defend anyone for a buck, the man keeps winning. And he’s winning really tough cases. Lay people think this is because he is lucky or because juries are stupid, but as a trial attorney, I know it takes considerable skill to prevail against the odds his clients face.This book told me why Baez keeps winning. He is a phenomenal attorney. Plain and simple. Anyone with an interest in the law MUST read this book. Baez really understands investigations, trial strategy, and advocacy, and he conveys the information in a very easy-to-read, conversational style. The man should consider holding lectures and seminars.5. There are many life lessons to be gleaned.Even if you are not a lawyer or a law junkie, this book is simply a fascinating case study in how pride goeth before a fall, youths are sacrificed on the altar of football, and lives can be derailed by keeping the wrong company. Hernandez’s story is a true Greek tragedy. An unexpected lesson is the fact that everything we think we know about a case from media coverage can be so wrong.

Muy interesante y detallada la estrategia de defensa legal, recomendable.

Foi uma ótima leitura para poderentender um pouco mais sobre ele. O Aaron tinha seus defeitos mas concerteza ele merecia um julgamento justo. Que ele esteja em paz.

Ich konnte das Buch nicht mehr zur Seite legen. Hatte ich davor die feste Meinung, dass Aaron definitiv schuldig war, habe ich nach diesem Buch eine ganz andere Ansicht.Extrem viele neue Details, die man in den Medien oder der Netflix Serie absolut nicht hört.Das Buch ist jeden Cent wert.

This book is a great read and will tear at the reader's emotions as the author takes us inside the life of Aaron Hernandez a superbly talented athlete who made it all the way to the NFL as a member of the New England Patriots with a 40 million contract yet played with fire with his lifestyle decisions that had tragic consequences for him and his family and eventually led to a life sentence for murder and his eventual suicide leaving the reader to wonder how it all went so terribly wrong.Author Jose Baez has an engaging writing style with interesting revelations about the "system" that ultimately ensnares Hernandez. There are many nuances and ironic twists as this top lawyer, absent in the first trial, muses that he may have been able to get Hernandez off the first murder charge that resulted in him being recommitted to prison and suicide 4 days later. Recommended.

I really enjoyed this book. Jose Baez did a good job of describing evidence that doesn't make it to public ears in a high profile case. Trials can be so difficult to follow because media will simply not be able to divulge or cover all of the details. Baez goes through all facets of the case, and does so without putting down his courtroom opponents and shows respect throughout, demonstrating his focus is on what he feels the evidence communicates. It's also a very interesting look into the police investigation relating to this case, but also incites questions as to how crimes of that nature (drive-by shootings) are handled with Boston police, especially with high profile defendants. Baez's personal interaction with Aaron does give insight into his life, his own accountability and how he navigated life at the time. Although Baez doesn't pretend to understand everything about Hernandez, he clearly believes Aaron was a troubled man with a good heart. This is a great read, and I will read it again to really grasp all the details of the case he laid out. I'll put it this way, if you think Aaron was no doubt guilty of this particular crime, after reading this, you'll understand reasonable doubt.