Ex-NFL star Hernandez, serving life, acquitted

BOSTON (AP) — ExNFL star Aaron Hernandez, who is already serving a life sentence for a 2013 murder, was acquitted Friday in a 2012 double slaying prosecutors said was fueled by his anger over a spilled drink.

The former tight end for the New England Patriots choked back tears as the verdicts were read in Boston. A few moments later, he looked back at his fiancee and nodded somberly as relatives of the victims sobbed loudly. A defense attorney hugged him.

After six days of deliberations, the jury found Hernandez not guilty of first-degree murder in the killings of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado. It convicted him of a single charge: unlawful possession of a gun.

The judge sentenced him to an additional four to five years in prison, separate from his existing life sentence.

Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley said the victims’ families were devastated by the verdicts as well as by the defense’s portrayal of the men as “gang bangers” and “drug dealers.”

“These were two hardworking, humble, Cape Verdean immigrants,” Conley said. “It was unnecessary and it was wrong, and it shouldn’t have been done.”

Conley said prosecutors and the families take solace in the fact that Hernandez is serving a life sentence in the 2013 killing of Odin Lloyd, a semi-professional football player who was dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancee. Prosecutors in the double-murder trial weren’t allowed to mention his conviction in Lloyd’s case.

“One of the victims’ relatives said, ‘At least he’s not walking out the door today,’” Conley said.

The defense team had pointed the finger at Alexander Bradley, an admitted drug dealer and a close friend of Hernandez who was with him the night of the shootings. The defense hammered at Bradley’s credibility, citing his immunity deal with prosecutors to testify against Hernandez, his role as the driver of the car the night of the shootings and his criminal record. Bradley is serving a five-year prison term in Connecticut for firing shots at a Hartford nightclub in 2014.

Bradley testified that Hernandez became enraged after de Abreu bumped into him while dancing, spilling his drink at a Boston nightclub.