Aaron Hernandez committed suicide a littler over two weeks ago, just a few days after he was cleared of a double murder from 2014. The former New England Patriots star’s death seemed suspicious to some but a corner deemed it to be a suicide and also three notes were found and one to his fiancee recently became public.
The underlying story in the Hernandez suicide was the fact that his 2015 murder conviction of Odin Lloyd could be voided given that his conviction was appealed and the state of Massachusets has a law which essentially says if someone dies during their appeal, they would be cleared of all pending conviction. It potentially clears his family from any future civil litigations against his estate. A Massachusetts judge made it official, Hernandez is no longer a convicted murderer.
Following from Christina Hager of WBZ in Boston and Sports Lawyer Dan Werly.
Judge: "The longstanding rule is…abating the entire prosecution as if it never happened." #AaronHernandez
— Christina Hager (@HagerWBZ) May 9, 2017
Judge Susan Garsh: "This court cannot know why Hernandez chose to end his life." #AaronHernandez
— Christina Hager (@HagerWBZ) May 9, 2017
Judge dismisses charges against #AaronHernandez in Odin Lloyd murder #wbz
— Christina Hager (@HagerWBZ) May 9, 2017
Which, in theory, opens the door for estate to go after bonus $ from Pats. A number of obstacles in the way of it actually getting that $. https://t.co/YkKZtmqyGv
— Dan Werly (@WerlySportsLaw) May 9, 2017
Prosecutors do plan on appealing the ruling of the abatement. There is still a possibility that the Lloyd family could file a civil lawsuit against the Hernandez estate and possibly receive some settlement for Lloyd’s murder but today’s ruling by the judge makes it a little more tricky.
As Lindsey Adler of Deadspin points out, there are a number of financial considerations still pending between the NFL, the New England Patriots, and the NFLPA involving Hernandez’s potential violation of his contract at the time of his conviction. This case is far from over.
