With a judge having ruled on Tuesday to erase Aaron Hernandez’s 2015 conviction for the murder of Odin Lloyd, there has already been talk that both the NFL and the New England Patriots could owe the ex-tight end’s family a lot of money.
According to Jose Baez, the attorney representing Hernandez’s estate, that is a possibility. While he did not go into specifics, Baez told TMZ that there have been discussions about Hernandez’s pension and some money the Patriots never paid him.
“How the NFL treats him from this point forward remains to be seen,” Baez said. “We’re in discussions with his agents to see where he stands. They’re better equipped as it relates to the Players’ Association and things like that.”
Baez added that he believes Hernandez would have been entitled to his pension even if the Lloyd conviction stood.
“I’m not really certain this makes a difference,” he said. “My understanding is if he had a pension that this would not have disqualified him from that.”
The Patriots may be in a better position than the league, as they settled a grievance filed by Hernandez back in 2014. One legal expert told Ben Volin of the Boston Globe recently that settlements of that nature typically include “catch-all language” that would prevent the team from being involved with any financial issues relating to Hernandez going forward.
However, the Patriots could also hear from Lloyd’s family. The lawyer who represents the victim’s family said last month that Robert Kraft should offer to pay some of the damages.
As it stands right now, Hernandez died an innocent man due to a Massachusetts legal principle. There was one very interesting theory about his suicide (read it here) that may explain a lot, and it appears that theory is not going away anytime soon.
