Aaron Hernandez had his murder conviction vacated by a judge in MA on Tuesday, an expected move after the former New England Patriots tight end was found hanged in his prison cell last month.
The motion had been expected to prevail, and on Tuesday, Judge E. Susan Garsh said that legal precedent required the ruling.
Hernandez was convicted of first-degree murder in 2015 in the death two years prior of Odin Lloyd, a semi-pro football player who had dated the sister of Hernandez's fiancee.
Prosecutors, however, have argued that dismissing his murder conviction would reward his "conscious, deliberate and voluntary" act of taking his own life.
A judge who agreed to erase Aaron Hernandez's conviction in a 2013 murder has said there may be "complex and myriad" reasons why the former National Football League star took his own life. Hernandez left behind three notes, and in one note, Bomberg said, Hernandez indicated he knew about abatement.
Lloyd's mother fought back tears at a news conference after Tuesday's hearing, saying the former New England Patriots tight end would always be guilty in the eyes of her family.
Hernandez's lead attorney in the double murder trial, Jose Baez, has pledged to independently investigate the death.
Get a sneak peak of the Armadillo UI on Google's Fuchsia OS
It's called Fuchsia OS and it's apparently meant for smartphones, but anything beyond that remains a mystery. It is way more flexible than Android and any number of apps can be placed anywhere on the screen.
Ward has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Hernandez, and her lawyer has said he doesn't believe the civil case would be undermined if Hernandez's conviction was vacated.
Five days before his death, Hernandez was acquitted in a double murder that occurred in 2012.
Attorney John Thompson said the conviction is not considered final until it is decided by a higher court.
On April 19, Hernandez was found naked hanging from a bed sheet in his cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, Massachusetts, the Worcester County District Attorney's Office said. He was cut from the team hours after his arrest in Lloyd's killing.
The practice of posthumously vacating convictions is hotly debated.
MA law says murder convictions are abated, effectively erased, after an inmate's death if the inmate's appeals options have not been exhausted.
Comments