A judge has agreed to erase Aaron Hernandez's conviction in a 2013 murder case because he died before his appeal was heard.
That's after a MA judge wiped a murder conviction from his record following his suicide last month in a Massachusettes prison.
The former New England Patriots tight end hanged himself in his prison cell last month while serving a life sentence on a first-degree murder conviction in the death of semi-professional football player Odin Lloyd.
A judge on Tuesday erased a 2013 murder conviction against former National Football League star Aaron Hernandez, ruling that case law in MA has long established that defendants who die before their appeals are heard should have their convictions vacated. She said she was compelled to follow it. Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III said he plans to appeal Tuesday's ruling to the Massachusetts Supreme Court.
"In our book, (Hernandez is) guilty and he's going to always be guilty", Ursula Ward, Lloyd's mother, said after the conviction was overturned, via ESPN.com.
"To allow an archaic rule to reverse the jury's verdict flies in the face of common sense and basic fairness", Quinn said. In addition to erasing a criminal record, the doctrine has previously complicated attempts to recoup damages - attempts made by either the government or victims of crime. The suicide stunned his family because it came just days after Hernandez been found not guilty of a 2012 double murder.
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Patrick Bomberg said Hernandez "should not be able to accomplish in death what he could not accomplish in life".
Speaking at a press conference after Quinn, Ward said she found strength in her faith in God. The doctrine required the reversal of a conviction of a defendant whose appeal has not been heard.
The former athlete's attorney, Jose Baez, told TMZ his legal team is in talks with Hernandez's former agents to see how the abatement will affect his contract. They said his conviction wasn't considered final because the automatic appeal he was entitled to had not been heard at the time of his death.
Hernandez's appellate attorney, John Thompson, told reporters he believes it's still uncertain as to whether Hernandez took his own life. He was serving a life sentence in the 2013 killing of Odin Lloyd.
The judge who presided at Hernandez's trial in Lloyd's killing has scheduled a hearing Tuesday.
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