BOSTON – The Boston Globe reported Tuesday that former New England Patriots star Aaron J. Hernandez is no longer a convicted murderer. Mass. Superior Court Judge E. Susan Garsh vacated Hernandez’s first-degree murder conviction for the 2013 shooting of Odin L. Lloyd. Garsh cited legal precedent as the conviction had not been reviewed by the state Supreme Judicial Court before his death, an apparent suicide in April. Therefore, the verdict could not be finalized.
After Hernandez’s death, prosecutors failed to prove that his death came about because of a desire to vacate his conviction. Garsh cited the extenuating and public circumstance surrounding Hernandez’s trial as room for uncertainty. Ultimately, Garsh refused to issue a ruling that contradicted the state’s highest court, stating that a manner of death has never been considered as to whether or not a case has been vacated due to death.
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The prosecution, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III, vowed to appeal Garsh’s ruling.
Hernandez was found hanging in his cell in Shirley, Mass., on April 19. He was 27 years old.
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor.
