The New England Patriots have maintained all along that they had no knowledge of any of the criminal activity Aaron Hernandez was involved in while the late former NFL tight end was with them, but lawyers are still calling for the team to pay damages.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against Hernandez’s estate said in court Tuesday that the Patriots should step up and compensate the family members of the victims.
“We would welcome the Patriots looking into that issue and doing the right thing, which is to compensate the victims,” Kenneth Kolpan, a lawyer for the family of Daniel de Abreu, said according to the Boston Globe.
Along with Safiro Furtado, de Abreu was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting outside a Boston nightclub in 2012. Hernandez was charged with the murders but acquitted just days before he hung himself in his prison cell.
While Hernandez was not convicted of the murders, the families of the victims are still suing his estate. William Kennedy, a lawyer for Furtado’s family, told reporters on Tuesday that the Patriots could help “make amends” by compensating his clients.
“I think they’re in a position to do that,” Kennedy said. “That would be welcome.”
A lawyer for Odin Lloyd, a man whom Hernandez was convicted of killing but later had the conviction overturned because of an outdated legal principle in Massachusetts, has also called for the Patriots to pay damages.
It’s highly unlikely that the Patriots will end up writing any checks. The families of the victims aren’t the only ones seeking money from the team, but voluntarily paying would come across as admitting some sort of responsibility. That is not going to happen.
