JUDGE VACATES HERNANDEZ MURDER CONVICTION

Aaron Hernandez had his murder conviction vacated by a judge in Massachusetts on Tuesday, an expected move after the former New England Patriots tight end was found hanged in his prison cell last month. Judge Susan Garsh, a justice of the Superior Court in Bristol County, in her ruling cited longstanding precedent when it came to vacating the convictions of defendants who have pending appeals. “In the interests of justice, the court has no choice but to vacate Hernandez’s conviction and dismissing the charges against him,” Garsh said. Hernandez was convicted of firstdegree murder in 2015 in the death two years prior of Odin Lloyd, a semi-pro football player who had dated the sister of Hernandez’s fiancée. Prosecutors argued that by dismissing the conviction, the court would reward Hernandez for his “conscious, deliberate and voluntary act” of killing himself. Hernandez, 27, was found hanged by a bed sheet inside his cell at the Souza Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, Mass., on April 19. Garsh’s ruling could impact Hernandez’s estate and the wrongful death lawsuit Lloyd’s family is pursuing. The Patriots didn’t pay the final $6 million in guaranteed money under his contract, a decision made after Hernandez was arrested in 2013. Massachusetts School of Law dean and President Michael Coyne told USA TODAY Sports that Hernandez’s estate — which is worth nothing, according to court records — could potentially seek that money as a result of Tuesday’s decision. Coyne also said an expungement of a conviction could make it more difficult for Lloyd’s family to prevail in civil court. There doesn’t need to be a conviction, however, to win a wrongful death lawsuit, and the O.J. Simpson case is the best example of that.