The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court reinstated Aaron Hernandez's murder conviction in the Odin Lloyd case Wednesday.
The court called the precedent that led to Hernandez's conviction being overturned "outdated and no longer consonant with the circumstances of contemporary life," per Alanna Durkin Richer of the Associated Press.
A judge had thrown out Hernandez's conviction following his 2017 suicide because his conviction was undergoing an appeal at the time of his death. Longstanding legal principle had stated a person appealing a conviction should no longer be considered guilty, should they die before their appeals process had been exhausted.