New England Patriots

Arguments on vacating Aaron Hernandez's conviction for murder set to begin

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

Sports Illustrated, SI Wire/Sports Illustrated

A Massachusetts judge is set to hear arguments concerning attempts to have former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez's murder conviction tossed out.

Hernandez was found hanging in his cell on April 19, just five days after being acquitted for a 2012 double homicide. Hernandez used a bed sheet that he attached to a cell window to hang himself after first attempting to block the door by jamming the door with several items.

At the time of his death, Hernandez had not exhausted his appeals for his first-degree murder conviction in the 2013 killing of Odin Lloyd, a conviction under Massachusetts law that is automatically appealed to the state's highest court. He was serving a life sentence without parole for that murder.

Hernandez's appellate attorneys want the conviction thrown out under a long standing state principle called “abatement ab initio," which in Latin, means to roll back a process to its beginning. It's a rule stating that a defendant that is deceased will be treated as though they never were convicted of that crime.

Prosecutors in the case say the conviction should stand because Hernandez voluntarily took his own life.

The judgment in the matter could have immediate repercussions in pending civil lawsuits against Hernandez's estate. If Hernandez’s convictions are thrown out, they can't be used against him in any civil case filed.

Lloyd's mother filed a wrongful death lawsuit in 2013 on behalf of her son against Hernandez, the Patriots and Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

Hernandez also faced civil lawsuits in Suffolk County, Mass., where the families of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado, the two men he was accused of killing in 2012, are each seeking $6 million in damages.

- Scooby Axson