Aaron Hernandez was serving life in prison after being convicted of murder at the time he committed suicide in prison nearly two years ago, and the conviction was later vacated because of an outdated doctrine. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled that the former New England Patriots tight end is once again a convicted murderer.
In June 2017, the state of Massachusetts ruled that Hernandez was an innocent man because he died before all of his appeals could be exhausted. Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn filed an appeal at the time asking the Supreme Court to reinstate the conviction and not let Hernandez clear his name due to an “archaic rule,” and that is what happened on Wednesday.
Wow. Aaron Hernandez's murder conviction, which was tossed b/c he committed suicide before his appeal, has been reinstated & the doctrine that allowed this to happen has been overturned by the MA Supreme Ct.
PDF (key passage via @BobMcGovernJr below): https://t.co/FM5J6QGr39 https://t.co/LOoBjl3w6B
— Dan Werly (@WerlySportsLaw) March 13, 2019
Hernandez was convicted of murdering Odin Lloyd in 2013 and sentenced to life in prison in 2015. He was also charged with double-murder stemming from a 2012 incident outside a Boston nightclub, but he was acquitted in April 2017. Less than a week later, Hernandez hung himself inside his prison cell.
One popular theory is that Hernandez killed himself to protect his estate and assure his fiancee and daughter a more secure future. You can read more about that here.
