Aaron Hernandez found not guilty of double murder

April 14, 2017 at 15:44

It is a massive victory, however, for Jose Baez, the celebrated defense attorney hired to defend Hernandez.

In the end, a Suffolk County jury simply couldn’t buy the entire story that Alexander Bradley, the compromised star witness for the prosecution, was spinning.

So they found Aaron Hernandez not guilty on Friday of murdering Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado in a 2012 drive-by shooting in Boston’s Theatre District. The jury deliberated for 37.5 hours, spread out over six days.

As the not-guilty verdict was read, some family members of Abreu and Furtado rushed out of the courtroom in tears. Hernandez’s fiancé Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez, who only days earlier arrived in court with the couple’s 4-year-old daughter, sobbed.

Hernandez was found guilty of the unlawful carrying of a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver and was sentenced by Judge Jeffrey A. Locke to 4-5 years.

The decision changes little for Hernandez, who was already serving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole in a Massachusetts prison for the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd in North Attleborough. While that first conviction will be automatically appealed, it is unlikely the former New England Patriots star will be granted a new trial, let alone ever walk free.

The not-guilty verdict comes one day before the two-year anniversary of Hernandez’s conviction for the murder of Lloyd.

Aaron Hernandez stands at the defense table during the double-murder trial for the July 2012 killings of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Fruited (AP)

As he walked out of court escorted by at least four officers, heading back to prison, Hernandez turned toward Jenkins-Hernandez and mouthed, “I love you.” Continue Reading (...)