National Football League

Ex-Patriots player Hernandez's friend is acquitted of murder

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 9:51 p.m. ET

foxsports

FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) A friend of former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez has been acquitted of murder in the shooting death of a man Hernandez was convicted of killing.

But a jury found Ernest Wallace guilty of accessory after the fact to murder in a Fall River, Massachusetts, court Thursday. Wallace was sentenced to four and a half to seven years in prison.

Hernandez denied killing Odin (OH'-dihn) Lloyd in 2013 but was convicted of murder and was sentenced to life without parole.

Lloyd's body was found in a North Attleborough industrial park, near the Rhode Island border.

Prosecutors argued there was a ''cooperative effort'' in the killing of Lloyd, who was dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancee. Wallace denied it.

Prosecutors say they respect the verdict and are pleased Wallace is going to prison.

Hernandez grew up in Bristol, Connecticut.