Former New England Patriot NFL player, who is currently serving a life sentence without parole, Aaron Hernandez redemption has finally begin, as the not guilty verdict read in court for the double murder Daniel Abreu and Safiro Furtado by a Boston jury.
Aaron Hernandez redemption comes even though the family of the dead men wept in court when the not guilty verdict was read. The decision comes two years after another Massachusetts jury, found the former NFL tight- end guilty of murdering an acquaintance, Odin Lloyd in an industrial park near his home in June 2013. He is currently serving a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for that killing.
Hernandez, now 27, was a rising star in the National Football League when he was arrested in 2013 and charged with murdering acquaintance Odin Lloyd, the boyfriend of his fiance’s sister.
Except for a weapons possession count, Hernandez was found not guilty of all charges associated with the double murder, including witness intimidation. He was immediately sentenced to an additional four to five years in prison on the weapons conviction.
The jury heard from witnesses including a friend, Alexander Bradley, who was said to be the actual killer. He mentioned that he was in the car with Hernandez, when the football star shot dead Cape Verdean nationals, Daniel Abreu and Safiro Furtado outside the Boston nightclub.
Defense lawyer Jose Baez – best known for successfully defending Florida mother Casey Anthony in the 2011 trial, in which she was charged with murdering her daughter – relentlessly hammered Bradley’s credibility, suggesting that he had killed the men and pinned it on Hernandez in exchange for immunity.
Baez contended that investigators focused on Hernandez as a suspect because of his fame, and disregarded evidence that pointed away from the NFL star, who had a $41 million contract at the time of his arrest.
“They don’t want you to base your decision on evidence, they want you to base it on prejudice. They want you to say he’s got tattoos, he’s different than us. They want you to say he’s a celebrity, he’s different from us,” Baez told the jury in his closing argument. “That’s what they’re basing their case on.”