BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts’ high court will consider whether the state should get rid of a centuries-old legal principle that erased Aaron Hernandez’s murder conviction after the former New England Patriots tight end killed himself.
The Supreme Judicial Court recently announced that it will hear the former NFL star’s case and examine the legal principle under which courts typically dismiss the convictions of defendants who die before their direct appeals can be heard.
Hernandez’s murder conviction in the killing of Odin Lloyd was dismissed after Hernandez was found hanging in his cell last year.
A single Supreme Judicial Court justice last year denied prosecutors’ request to reinstate Hernandez’s conviction.
Hernandez was acquitted of killing Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado days before his prison suicide.