Will Aaron Hernandez's Family Be Rich After His Death?
Former NFL star Aaron Hernandez’s conviction for a 2013 murder may have been dismissed by a Massachusetts judge Tuesday, but that does not mean his family will be able to claim the millions withheld by his former team and the NFL, a new report said, citing legal experts.
Hernandez was convicted for murdering Odin Lloyd in 2013. The conviction was being appealed while he had also just been acquitted in a separate 2012 double murder.
Days after the acquital however, the former New England Patriots tight end committed suicide by hanging himself from a bed sheet in his cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Lancaster, Massachusetts.
As Judge Susan Garsh dismissed the 2013 case because of a Massachusetts legal rule, known as “abatement ab initio,” many speculated whether Hernandez’s fiancée Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez and daughter would be eligible for compensation from the team and the NFL.
Read: Aaron Hernandez's Gang Affiliations Revealed In Death Report
His family has been left with close to nothing after the football star’s death. Despite Hernandez being on a five-year contract worth $40 million with the team, his salary and bonus payments were terminated following his arrest.
Reports say that the Patriots may be obligated to pay the $3.5 million bonus Hernandez lost as a result of his arrest, in addition to $2.5 million in base salary that was lost. Legal experts however, think differently.
According to a professor of law at Suffolk University in Massachusetts, the contract is supposed to follow the NFL’s collective-bargaining agreement and not the decision of a criminal court. At the same time, Rosanna Cavallaro told Fox Business that Hernandez’s contract would have included a conduct clause that allows the franchise to withhold payment of salary or bonuses in the event of wrongdoing.
“[The Patriots] can decide, according to their own lines, whether someone has violated their contract, so it’s not obvious to me that if you vacate the criminal judgment, now the NFL has to go back to treating him like someone whose contract is valid,” Cavallaro told the publication.
“I just don’t see that. There’s a very good argument from the NFL or the Patriots’ perspective that it’s the conduct that we’re interested in, not that adjudication of the conduct.”
Former NFL New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez appears in court for a motion hearing in Attleborough, Massachusetts, Aug. 30, 2013. Photo: REUTERS/Dominick Reuter
She said despite Hernandez’s conviction being removed from his record, the Patriots and the NFL could consider his arrest itself as the grounds required to justify not paying his family.
“The arrest and the facts surrounding the arrest, the facts as presented to a criminal jury – that should give the NFL or the team, whoever is under the obligation to pay him, plenty of ammunition to say ‘we don’t have to pay you anymore,’” Cavallaro explained.
Hernandez seemed to be thinking differently at the time of his death.
He reportedly left three suicide notes at the time of his death, one of which was addressed to his fiancée, where he wrote, “You have always been my soul mate and I want you to live life and know I’m always with you. I told you what was coming indirectly! I love you so much and know you are an angel- literally!”
The noted ended with: “Let [redacted] know how much I love her! Look after [redacted] and [redacted] for me – those are my boys (YOURE RICH).”
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