The former SEC All-American receives guilty verdict
Since the shooting death of Odin Lloyd in 2013, Aaron Hernandez has been fighting for his freedom to avoid murder chargers. Deliberations were expected to conclude last Friday, but the jurors needed 72 more hours to finally come to a decision on whether or not Hernandez was guilty of murder in the first or second degree – or being found innocent. With no murder weapon found or no witness to use only surveillance footage, his fiancé and co-defendants testimonies led to the jury coming up with the difficult decision.
For the death of Odin Lloyd, the Connecticut native was found guilty on 1st degree murder, carrying a firearm without license, 2 counts of carrying large-capacity firearm, possession of ammunition without FID card, and possession of firearm without FID card. After being found guilty on all five verdicts he was charged with, the former New England Patriot stand-out player now sees his career and life over on the outside at the tender age 25.
Hernandez has the rights to an appeal down the line but the unanimous decision from 131 witnesses and 439 pieces of evidence will be something hard to overcome in a retrial. He still needs a logical reasoning to choose for an appeal after the verdict, if his attorneys feel the court didn’t provide a fair trial for their client. Unfortunately for the Hernandez family, winning an appeal or being presented to the Supreme Court is very unlikely to happen.
If he would’ve been convicted of 2nd-degree murder, Aaron would’ve had the chance of parole after an extended amount of time. Since Hernandez blew trial, his freedom and seeing light outside a penitentiary may have ended today for the former NFL player. Watch the emotional guilty verdict in the video clip above.