Massachusetts prosecutors ask judge to reject request to vacate Aaron Hernandez's murder conviction
Aaron Hernandez died in his cell on April 19; his death was ruled a suicide.
— -- Massachusetts prosecutors asked a judge today to reject a request to posthumously vacate the conviction of Aaron Hernandez, arguing that granting the request would "reward" the former New England Patriots star tight end for his "conscious, deliberate and voluntary act" of murder.
After Hernandez, 27, committed suicide in prison on April 19, his attorneys asked that his conviction for the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd be dismissed.
While Massachusetts courts have allowed dismissals in cases where a defendant dies before appeals are exhausted, Bristol County Assistant District Attorney Patrick Bomberg said the practice is more custom than law. In a written submission, Bomberg also suggested vacating the conviction would be unfair to Lloyd’s family.
On April 19, Hernandez was found hanging from a bed sheet in his cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, Massachusetts, the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office said. His death was ruled a suicide.
Hernandez was serving a life sentence after he was convicted in April 2015 of murder, unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition for the June 2013 killing of Lloyd in North Attleboro, Massachusetts. Lloyd was dating the sister of Shayanna Jenkins Hernandez, who was Hernandez's fiancée.
Five days before his death, Hernandez was acquitted in a double murder that occurred in 2012.
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