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Aaron Hernandez’ Estate Sues NFL and Patriots: You Should Have Warned Me

While football players across the NFL are making headlines for exercising their right to peacefully protest during the national anthem amidst presidential disapproval, one player has made headlines post-mortem. You likely recall that Aaron Hernandez, the former New England Patriot, committed suicide in his jail cell in April 2017 after being acquitted of a double murder but while still serving a life sentence for the murder of Odin Lloyd, the boyfriend of his fiancé’s sister. After his death that conviction was set aside per Massachusetts law however prosecutors are appealing this decision.

Naturally his suicide was devastating to his family–especially his fiancee, Shayanna Jenkins, the mother of his young daughter–but it was so concerning that the family asked for an examination of his brain. The results of those post mortem brain scans are doing more than raise a few eyebrows–they lead to the filing of a lawsuit.

There is no dispute that football is a dangerous sport. The long lasting, irreversible damage that results from the constant, repeated collisions and impacts has gained spotlight in the media after players have started speaking out more regularly about the dangers of concussions. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE is a degenerative brain disease that can only be studied post-mortem. According to ESPN, Dr. Ann McKee, the director of the CTE Center in Boston said that Aaron Hernandez had stage 3 of the disease…on a 4 stage scale. At that stage, one can expect cognitive disorders, depression, and mood swings that can turn violent. People most likely to suffer from CTE are military veterans, boxers, football players, and anyone who has had repeated head trauma. One study found that out of 111 NFL players, 110 had signs of the disease. Does this mean everyone who has CTE is going to turn violent or now has a defense backed by science should they find themselves charged with murder? No, of course not. But the results are interesting and warrant further study and research.

So, what do the findings about Hernandez’ brain have to do with the lawsuit? Note, plaintiffs are NOT claiming that the CTE caused Hernandez to murder Odin Lloyd. What the Hernandez lawsuit that was filed on Thursday, September 21st, 2017, against the NFL and the New England Patriots claims is that the NFL and the Patriots hid the dangers of playing football and in failing to warning Hernandez about the dangers of football, they are responsible for his death.

Regarding the severity of Hernandez’ CTE, his attorney, Jose Baez (who represented him in the double murder trial and also famously won the acquittal of Casey Anthony in the murder of her daughter, Caylee), said, “We’re told it was the most severe case they had ever seen for someone of Aaron’s age.” He also explained that Hernandez had exhibited signs of CTE, but, “When hindsight is 20-20, you look back and there are things you might have noticed, but you don’t know.”

With barely the ink dry on the lawsuit on September 22, 2017, NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart said that the NFL will fight the lawsuit: “We intend to contest this claim vigorously.” Lockhart also made sure to reiterate that Hernandez is not the victim in this scenario. A convicted murderer, he may have suffered from CTE, but there is so much more to the story. “His personal story is complex, it doesn’t lend itself to simple answers. He was convicted of a homicide and his well-documented behavioral issues began long before he played in the National Football League.” He continued on to say, “The real victims here are the friends and family of the man who was killed, and those left behind, particularly his daughter.”

No surprise the NFL is going to fight this vigorously. They are known to fight most things that way. Here, though have good reason for that zeal. Hernandez only played 38 NFL games–he had taken many hits to head prior to that NFL career. As Chris Johnston, the highly regarded personal injury lawyer Minneapolis MN residents turn to when they seek vigorous representation points out, “Causation is going to be hotly contested as Hernandez played football in high school, in college as well as in the NFL. Pursuing claims only against the NFL and the Patriots will be very challenging.”

In addition to the issue of causation is the question of whether a court can properly entertain this lawsuit or whether the matter is governed by the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement which mandates that an arbitrator not a judge or jury hear and decides issues presented. The NFL has been successful with this argument on many prior occasions even those matters related to brain injury and no doubt they will raise this as they “contest this claim vigorously.”

Even if the case gets bounced from the courts, it’s an interesting one and bears addressing. The more the dangers of football and CTE, in particular, are highlighted, the more we can hope that something will be done, things will change, and the lives of these young men who see the promise of money, power, fame and chance to play the game they love, may receive more protection. In the end though what this case also highlights this rise and fall of Aaron Hernandez. He was only twenty seven when he died. To read more about the fallen football star and his legal battles click here and here.

Aaron Hernandez Murder Conviction Vacated

Aaron Hernandez Murder, Athletes, Celebrity News, Celebs, Crimes

When former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez died on April 19, 2017 he was a convicted murderer, now, less than a month later, that conviction has been wiped from his record.

On May 9, 2017, in Fall River, Massachusetts, Superior Court Judge Susan Garsh vacated Hernandez’ first-degree murder conviction resulting from the 2013 death of Odin L. Lloyd, citing a centuries-old law that states that convictions can be vacated if the defendant is in the process of appealing.

State prosecutors opposed the conviction being vacated and have vowed to take the case to the state Supreme Court. They argue that the law, which dates back to colonial times, was precisely the reason that Hernandez committed suicide.

Bristol Assistant District Attorney Patrick Bomberg said, “This is not a defendant who has arrived at the killing of himself by happenstance.” He and fellow prosecutors argued that Hernandez knew about the law and committed suicide to clear his legal standing, which could benefit his heirs. Some experts have speculated that a vacated conviction would enable his heirs to collect an almost $6 million contract from the Patriots that had been withheld when he was arrested.

But that argument didn’t sway the judge, who ruled, “This court cannot know why Hernandez may have chosen to end his life and declines to infer an intent by Hernandez to relinquish his appellate rights or an intent to interfere with the course of justice from his reported suicide, a tragic act that may have complex and myriad causes.”

Naturally, Odin Lloyd’s family members were not pleased with the court’s ruling. They openly wept in court and his mother Ursula Ward told reporters of Hernandez, “In our book, he’s guilty, and he’s going to always be guilty.” Ms. Ward, we at PROOF agree with you. But, know that he wasn’t found innocent by a jury or a judge the vacating of his conviction is simply what some would refer to as legal technicality. And although we know it doesn’t feel good or fair, unfortunately it happens in the law. Perhaps the prosecution will win the appeal and the conviction will be reinstated. In the meantime, pursuing the civil case against Hernandez’ estate may ultimately bring some sense of peace or justice.

And, as far as the civil case against Hernandez’ estate, it is and should go on. While it certainly would have been beneficial to have been able to admit into evidence Hernandez’ criminal conviction (it would have taken care of a lot of proof issues) the burden of proof in a civil matter is much lower than in a criminal matter which most know is beyond a reasonable doubt. As such, proving the underlying act–that Hernandez murdered Lloyd–will not be as difficult as it were at the criminal level. Put plainly, if there was enough proof to obtain a criminal conviction, then if that same proof is presented and understood correctly by the jury in the civil case, it should be more than sufficient to support the finding that Hernandez caused Lloyd’s wrongful death.

In fact PROOF readers, you recall that OJ was acquitted at the criminal level but was found liable at the civil level.

Another potential positive side effect of the conviction being set aside is if the 6 million from the NFL becomes available then it could potentially be used to satisfy a judgment that the jury in the civil matter awards to the Lloyd family

And another twist in the Hernandez saga? His attorneys aren’t wholly convinced that his death was a suicide or if it were, that it couldn’t have been prevented. Hernandez was found hanging from a window in his jail cell with a bedsheet around his neck, and though the state says there was no wrongdoing and it was a suicide, Hernandez’ legal team, led by Jose Baez, is conducting its own investigation into his death. It is not unlikely that Hernandez’s family will file a lawsuit if they think officials didn’t do enough to prevent his death or if they created a condition which allowed his death to occur.

If there is one thing that can be said about the Hernandez matter it is that it is tragic all around.