Aaron Hernandez's Murder Conviction Reinstated

Aaron Hernandez’s murder conviction was reinstated Wednesday in a sweeping ruling from Massachusetts’ highest court that does away with the legal principle that made the former NFL star innocent in the eyes of the law after he killed himself in prison.

The Supreme Judicial Court unanimously found that the legal rule that erased Hernandez’s conviction is “outdated and no longer consonant with the circumstances of contemporary life.” It ordered that Hernandez’s conviction be restored and that the practice be abolished for future cases. The ruling does not affect past cases.

The Supreme Judicial Court has reinstated #AaronHernandez's first degree murder conviction.

— Bob McGovern (@BobMcGovernJr) March 13, 2019

Hernandez was convicted in 2015 of killing semi-professional football player Odin Lloyd. Two years later, the 27-year-old killed himself in his prison cell days after being acquitted of most charges in a separate double-murder case.

A judge threw out Hernandez’s conviction that year, citing the legal principle that holds that a defendant convicted at trial who dies before an appeal is heard should no longer be considered guilty in the eyes of the law, thereby returning the case to its pretrial status. The prosecution then appealed, seeking to have the conviction reinstated.

Under the doctrine, rooted in centuries of English law, a conviction should not be considered final until an appeal can determine whether mistakes were made that deprived the defendant of a fair trial, legal experts say.