DA: HE DIDN’T DIE INNOCENT
Conley says conviction should stand
The state Legislature should revisit a law that may allow Aaron Hernandez’s murder conviction to be vacated, Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said yesterday.
“This is something the Legislature might want to look at,” Conley said, referring to the common-law doctrine known as abatement ab initio that could allow Hernandez’s conviction for the death of Dorchester semipro football player Odin L. Lloyd to disappear. “It does seem to be a bit of a tough pill for a family, like the Lloyd family, to swallow. He had a full and fair trial, he was represented by extremely competent council, he was found guilty by a jury of his peers and, really, that should stand.”
The doctrine is based on the principle that until the state’s highest court hears an appeal, a verdict cannot be considered final. Attorneys appealing Hernandez’s 2015 first-degree murder conviction told the Herald on Wednesday that they will seek to have it vacated under the doctrine because he committed suicide before the Supreme Judicial Court heard his appeal in the case.
But Conley said most members of the public will forever view the former Patriots’ tight end as a killer.
“In the court of public opinion, there are very few people who think Aaron Hernandez is not responsible for the homicide of Odin Lloyd,” Conley said yesterday afternoon. “And we felt strongly we certainly had enough evidence for this jury to have found him guilty in the homicide of Daniel (de Abreu) and Safiro (Furtado) as well.”
Conley said he was “shocked” at the news of Hernandez’s death and that his thoughts immediately went to the families of the two Cape Verdean men his office charged the fallen NFL star with killing in the summer of 2012.
“He won’t die an innocent man,” Conley said. “In the court of public opinion, I believe Aaron Hernandez is somebody who had a troubled past, a violent history. While the court may vacate his conviction, I think most people understand he is responsible for (Lloyd’s murder).”
He added: “We’ll never really know what was in the mind of Aaron Hernandez. I never met the man personally, I observed him very closely. He was a complicated individual who was able to compartmentalize his life in so many different ways.”