Aaron Hernandez, the former New England Patriots tight end, was accused of crimes stemming from three separate shootings: the June 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd, a July 2012 double homicide in Boston that killed Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado, and the February 2013 shooting of Alexander Bradley in Florida. Those incidents produced three first-degree murder charges, an aggravated assault allegation, multiple weapons counts, a witness intimidation charge, and a jailhouse assault charge picked up while he was awaiting trial.
The Murder of Odin Lloyd
Lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-professional football player for the Boston Bandits, was found shot to death on June 17, 2013, in an industrial park in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, about a mile from Hernandez’s home. He was dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancée, so the two men knew each other socially. Hernandez was arrested on June 26, 2013, and charged with first-degree murder, which under Massachusetts law carries a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole.1General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Code Chapter 265 Section 2 – Punishment for Murder
Prosecutors alleged Hernandez orchestrated the killing out of paranoia. Two nights earlier, the men had been at a Boston nightclub where Lloyd was seen speaking with people Hernandez associated with the 2012 Boston shooting. The prosecution argued Hernandez viewed Lloyd as disloyal and feared he knew too much about his weapons and criminal associations. Hernandez reportedly texted associates the night before the killing that he could no longer trust anyone.
Alongside the murder count, Hernandez faced unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of a large-capacity feeding device under Massachusetts weapons law.2Mass.gov. Massachusetts Code Chapter 269 Section 10 – Carrying Dangerous Weapons Prosecutors charged co-defendants Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz alongside him and pursued the case under a joint venture theory, which meant they did not need to prove Hernandez personally fired the fatal shot, only that he knowingly participated in the crime with the required intent.3Mass.gov. Model Jury Instructions on Homicide – Joint Venture Helping plan the crime, driving to the scene, or agreeing to act as a lookout can be enough for a conviction under that theory. Mere presence is not.
The 2012 Boston Double Homicide
In May 2014, while awaiting trial in the Lloyd case, Hernandez was indicted for a shooting that had taken place nearly two years earlier. On July 16, 2012, Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado were shot and killed while sitting in their car in Boston’s South End. Three other people in the vehicle survived.
Prosecutors traced the shooting to a Boston nightclub earlier that evening, where one of the victims allegedly bumped into Hernandez and spilled his drink. According to the prosecution, Hernandez followed the group after they left and fired multiple rounds into their car. The charges included two counts of first-degree murder, three counts of armed assault with intent to murder for the surviving passengers, and one count of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Investigators focused on a silver SUV later recovered from a relative’s garage, which they alleged Hernandez had used during the shooting.
The Shooting of Alexander Bradley
Bradley, a former associate, was allegedly shot in the face by Hernandez in February 2013 after a dispute following a night out at a Florida strip club. Bradley lost his right eye. The incident generated a civil lawsuit and criminal allegations of aggravated assault, which Florida classifies as a third-degree felony when committed with a deadly weapon.4Online Sunshine. Florida Code 784.021 – Aggravated Assault
The Bradley shooting also produced a witness intimidation charge in Massachusetts. Prosecutors alleged Hernandez shot Bradley to keep him from cooperating with Boston police investigating the South End killings. Intimidating a witness or potential witness to obstruct a criminal investigation carries up to ten years in state prison under Massachusetts law.5Mass.gov. Massachusetts Code Chapter 268 Section 13B – Intimidation of Witnesses Bradley’s civil suit was settled in February 2016 on undisclosed terms.
Assault Charge While Incarcerated
Hernandez picked up an additional charge while being held at the Bristol County House of Correction. In 2014, he was accused of assault and battery after allegedly attacking a fellow inmate who was restrained in handcuffs. Simple assault and battery is a misdemeanor in Massachusetts carrying up to two and a half years in a house of correction.6General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Code Chapter 265 Section 13a – Assault or Assault and Battery Punishment
How Each Charge Was Resolved
On April 15, 2015, a jury found Hernandez guilty of first-degree murder and five weapons charges in the Lloyd case, triggering the mandatory life-without-parole sentence.1General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Code Chapter 265 Section 2 – Punishment for Murder
The double homicide trial ended very differently. On April 14, 2017, after six days of deliberation, the jury acquitted him of both murders, the three armed assault counts, the assault and battery count, and the witness intimidation charge. He was convicted only of illegal possession of a firearm and sentenced to four to five years, a largely symbolic addition to a life sentence.
Five days later, on April 19, 2017, Hernandez was found dead in his cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center, having hanged himself with bedsheets. He was 27.
His death raised an unusual legal question. Massachusetts at the time followed a common-law rule called abatement ab initio, which erased a conviction if the defendant died while an appeal was still pending. Because Hernandez’s appeal of the Lloyd conviction was active, a trial court initially vacated it under that doctrine. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court reversed in 2019, calling the abatement rule “outdated and no longer consonant with the circumstances of contemporary life,” and set a new rule: when a defendant dies during a pending appeal, the appeal is dismissed as moot but the conviction stands.7Justia. Commonwealth v. Hernandez The court applied that standard to Hernandez, reinstating the murder conviction.