12/18/24
April 19, 2017
Aaron Hernandez found dead in prison; conviction will be voided: Five days after being acquitted of two additional murders, Aaron Hernandez was found dead by hanging in his prison cell. After the acquittal, Hernandez was returned to prison to continue serving a life sentence for a 2013 murder. According to Massachusetts law, Hernandez will be considered as having died an innocent man; under a legal principle, as he had not exhausted legal appeals, the conviction will be voided.
Can't access the Globe story, but read somewhere else that his NFL contract was terminated on the basis of his conviction and now that he is "legally" an innocent man the Patriots and the NFL are on the hook for compensation to his estate. Is this for real?
posted by cixelsyd at 03:38 PM on April 19, 2017
Judging by the Washington Post's reference to the Kenneth Lay - Enron trial, it looks like both (civil trial evidence and Patriot/NFL compensation) are possible.
posted by jjzucal at 04:34 PM on April 19, 2017
Thompson also said his office will file paperwork to have Hernandez's conviction voided once a death certificate is available, as required by court rules. He noted that Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III could challenge the motion to vacate the conviction.
No word in the story on whether Quinn would challenge the motion to vacate, or what the likelihood of any such challenge succeeding would be.
posted by tahoemoj at 04:56 PM on April 19, 2017
Now that Aaron Hernandez is dead, I wonder if any sportswriter will be tempted to give him the gauzy victim-of-his-circumstances treatment that Ray Lewis got when the Ravens reached the Super Bowl. I'll never forget Greg Gumbel and Phil Simms during the game praising Lewis for saying he would talk at some unspecified time in the future to the families of the murder victims. The media was so eager to spin a redemption tale it didn't require any actual evidence of redemption.
Hernandez was tough to cover with any sympathy while he was alive, because he might continue to do heinous things. But now the book is closed.
posted by rcade at 07:12 PM on April 19, 2017
I always savored this nugget of wisdom from Ray Lewis the broadcaster: (not stated verbatim):
"The Patriots must have known what they were getting into when they drafted Hernandez"
Meanwhile, as calendar days go, April 19 continues to be a certified badass motherfucker.
posted by beaverboard at 07:57 PM on April 19, 2017
I wonder if any sportswriter will be tempted to give him the gauzy victim-of-his-circumstances treatment
Chad Finn in the Boston Globe did quite the opposite in a piece today. Finn makes the case that Hernandez's problems were entirely of his own making, and are not to be excused. There was one brief mention about some believing that the death of Hernandez's father when Aaron Hernandez was only 16 might have pushed him toward the edge, but Finn seems to dismiss this. I can't say that I disagree with Mr. Finn's opinion.
posted by Howard_T at 12:42 AM on April 20, 2017
Enter Ben Volin of the Boston Globe: "[W]e feel sadness for Hernandez, a smart kid who made several bad decisions."
posted by rcade at 08:34 AM on April 20, 2017
Hernandez's family will donate his brain to Boston University's CTE Center for study.
posted by jjzucal at 09:26 PM on April 20, 2017
And the evidence from the criminal trial can't be used in any civil trial against the estate, apparently?