On April 19th, Aaron Hernandez committed suicide by hanging himself in his jail cell. It now appears as if the timing of it was important, as it has now cleared the very conviction that landed him in that jail cell to begin with.
The former New England Patriots star’s case went before a Massachusetts court early Tuesday morning, where according to TMZ, Hernandez’s team argued that their client’s original conviction cannot stand because he had not exhausted all of his appeals before the time of his death. The technicality is known as abatement ab initio.
Though prosecutors on behalf of the victim, Odin Lloyd, argued against it, claiming Hernandez knew about the law and used it to his and his family’s advantage, the judge ruled in favor of Hernandez, voiding the original homicide conviction.
Lloyd’s family will appeal the decision by the judge, and if that fails, will likely file a civil lawsuit against Hernandez’s family.
The Patriots will now be on the hook for paying out the remainder of his NFL contract that was negated when the TE was convicted, an estimated $6 million.
There’s no way of knowing in Hernandez was explained the law prior to his death, but the motive for his suicide seems to have been his family, backed by the suicide note left for his fiancé, where his parting words explained to her that she’s now rich.
