Photo: Jeffrey Beall Wiki Commons
Aaron Hernandez was acquitted of two murders this week but don’t let that headline fool you. The gun slinging former New England Patriots tight end is still serving a life sentence without parole for another murder. This double murder acquittal involved two other men who were killed in Boston in 2012.
The 27-year-old Hernandez was at this latest trial, this time accused of killing Safiro Furtado and Daniel de Abreu in a drive-by shooting after an altercation at a bar.
Hernandez pleaded not guilty and the jury acquitted him of seven out of eight charges on Friday after 37 hours of deliberation. The one charge that stuck was a illegal firearms charge. The acquitted charges included armed assault with intent to murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
After the acquittal, D.A. Daniel Conley said:
“We’re disappointed the jury just didn’t see it our way.”
Well, a lot of other people are disappointed as well. A slew of evidence was presented against a guy with a serious criminal history yet the D.A. still lost the case.
It was reported that Hernandez was emotional after the verdict was read but he’s serving life in prison without parole so why would he be so moved and why is this decision of so much importance? Well Hernandez’ attorney who also represented Casey Anthony is going around saying Hernandez will get out of prison so that may explain the importance of this verdict. Good luck with that, though.
After murdering Odin Lloyd, a semi-pro football player in June 2013, Hernandez was slapped with the life sentence so although he walked on these latest charges, people can look at the 2015 life sentence he was dealt as some type of justice.
Hard to believe that not long ago, Hernandez was living the life of an NFL star with a $40 million contract with the best team in football but now can only sit and watch his former Patriots team hoist Super Bowl trophies.