FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) — A judge is set to hear arguments in a push by lawyers for late NFL star Aaron Hernandez to erase his conviction in a 2013 murder.
The former New England Patriots tight end hanged himself in his prison cell on April 19 while serving a life sentence in the killing of semi-professional football player Odin Lloyd. His suicide came just five days after he was acquitted in a separate double slaying in 2012.
Hernandez's appellate attorneys have made their request under a long-standing legal principle in Massachusetts holding that when defendants die before their direct appeal is decided, their convictions should be vacated.