District Attorney’s Appeal Could Undo Aaron Hernandez’ Overturned Murder Conviction

BOSTON - The Bristol County District Attorney's Office has officially filed an appeal of a Fall River Superior Court judge's ruling in May which overturned Aaron Hernandez's murder conviction.

On May 9, Judge E. Susan Garsh applied Abatement Ab Initio, vacating the former NFL star's 2015 murder conviction in the shooting death of semi-professional football player Odin Lloyd in 2013. Hernandez had appealed the conviction, but committed suicide in his prison cell earlier this year in April.

The Bristol County DA's office filed the appeal to the ruling with the Single Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

District Attorney Thomas Quinn III called the law applied by Judge Garsh "archaic," and not constitutionally based.

"A defendant who commits suicide should not be able to manipulate the outcome of his post-conviction proceedings to achieve in death what he would not be able to achieve in life," said Quinn in a press release.

The District Attorney's Office will have no further comment on the appeal until either a decision is made by the SJC or a hearing is held before the court.