Aaron Hernandez was convicted of four crimes across two trials. In the 2015 Bristol County trial for the killing of Odin Lloyd, a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder, unlawful possession of a firearm, and unlawful possession of ammunition. In a separate 2017 trial in Boston, he was acquitted of a 2012 double homicide but convicted of one additional count of unlawful possession of a firearm. Those are the answer to what Aaron Hernandez was convicted of, though their legal status was later complicated by his death.
First-Degree Murder of Odin Lloyd
In April 2015, a jury found Hernandez guilty of murdering Odin Lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-professional football player whose body was found in an industrial area less than a mile from Hernandez’s North Attleborough home. Lloyd had been shot five times in the chest and back in the early morning hours of June 17, 2013.
The conviction was for first-degree murder under a theory of extreme atrocity or cruelty. Massachusetts law defines first-degree murder as a killing committed with deliberate premeditation, with extreme atrocity or cruelty, or during the commission of a crime punishable by life imprisonment.1General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Code Chapter 265 – Murder Defined Under the theory prosecutors used, they did not have to prove Hernandez planned the killing in advance; the manner of the killing itself was what elevated the charge.
The verdict carried the only sentence Massachusetts allows for first-degree murder: life in prison without the possibility of parole.2General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Code Chapter 265 Section 2 – Punishment for Murder It was imposed immediately after the verdict was read.
Firearm and Ammunition Convictions From the Lloyd Trial
The same 2015 trial produced two lesser convictions that are often overlooked because of the life sentence attached to the murder count. Hernandez was found guilty of unlawful possession of a firearm, which under Massachusetts law carries a sentence of two-and-a-half to five years in state prison for anyone who knowingly possesses a firearm without a valid license to carry.3General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Code Chapter 269 Section 10 – Carrying Dangerous Weapons He was also convicted of possessing ammunition without a valid firearm identification card, a separate offense that carries up to two years in jail and a fine of up to $500.4General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Code Chapter 269 Section 10 – Carrying Dangerous Weapons
Both counts appear alongside the murder conviction in the official record and in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s later ruling on his case.5Justia. Commonwealth vs. Aaron J. Hernandez
The 2017 Double Murder Trial: One Conviction, Multiple Acquittals
Already serving his life sentence, Hernandez stood trial again in 2017 for the July 2012 shooting deaths of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado outside a Boston nightclub. Prosecutors alleged he opened fire from his SUV at a traffic light after one of the victims accidentally spilled a drink on him inside the club. The case also included a witness intimidation charge tied to the February 2013 shooting of Alexander Bradley in Florida, which prosecutors said was meant to keep Bradley from cooperating with authorities.
On April 14, 2017, the jury acquitted Hernandez of both murder counts, armed assault with intent to murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and witness intimidation. He was convicted on one count only: unlawful possession of a firearm. The judge imposed a sentence of four to five years, to be served on top of his existing life sentence.3General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Code Chapter 269 Section 10 – Carrying Dangerous Weapons That was the final criminal verdict delivered against him during his lifetime.
Do the Convictions Still Stand?
Five days after his 2017 acquittal, Hernandez was found dead in his cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, Massachusetts. He had hanged himself with a bedsheet at age 27.
Because his appeal of the Lloyd murder conviction was still pending, his lawyers invoked a common-law doctrine called abatement ab initio, which held that when a defendant dies before an appeal is resolved, the conviction is erased as though no prosecution ever occurred. Bound by existing Massachusetts precedent, the trial judge vacated all of Hernandez’s convictions and dismissed the indictments.5Justia. Commonwealth vs. Aaron J. Hernandez
The Commonwealth appealed. In March 2019, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court abolished the abatement doctrine entirely, calling it “outdated and no longer consonant with the circumstances of contemporary life.” Rather than simply reinstating the convictions, the court created a new framework. The appeal was dismissed as moot, and the trial court was directed to note in the record that Hernandez’s convictions for first-degree murder, unlawful possession of a firearm, and unlawful possession of ammunition “removed the defendant’s presumption of innocence,” but that the convictions “were neither affirmed nor reversed on appeal because the defendant died while the appeal was pending.”5Justia. Commonwealth vs. Aaron J. Hernandez
In practical terms, the convictions remain on the record. They were never overturned, but they carry a notation no other Massachusetts conviction does: jury findings that removed the presumption of innocence, frozen in place because the appellate process never finished.
The 2012 Killings and Civil Liability
One point of common confusion: Hernandez was acquitted, not convicted, of the 2012 murders of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado. The families of both victims later filed a wrongful death lawsuit, which uses a lower burden of proof than a criminal trial, and that suit was settled on confidential terms in July 2019. A lawyer for the Hernandez estate said no estate assets were used in the settlement. A civil settlement is not a criminal conviction, and the acquittals in the 2017 trial stand.