Aaron Hernandez Sentenced To Life In Prison Without The Possibility of Parole For First-Degree Murder

Aaron Hernandez has been sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for the murder of Odin Lloyd. The judge also convicted the former New England Patriots football tight end on both weapons charges against him, according to WPRI Eyewitness News.

It is interesting to know that Hernandez’s guilty sentence of first-degree murder automatically carries a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. The reason Hernandez was not sentenced to death is because Massachusetts abolished the death penalty in 1984.

ESPN reported that the trial lasted nine weeks, and 135 witnesses were called to the stand. The jury that found Hernandez guilty deliberated for 36 hours over seven days.

The 25-year-old was indicted by a grand jury on August 22, 2013, for murdering 27-year-old Odin Lloyd on June 17, 2013. Lloyd was a linebacker for the Boston Bandits, a semi-professional football team. One of Hernandez’s attorneys alleged that his client witnessed the killing, but it wasn’t him who did it. Hernandez has always maintained his innocence, but the jury believed the former football player was guilty on all charges that had been brought against him.

Trials are yet to be held for two people reportedly to have been Hernandez’s co-conspirators in the murder of Lloyd. Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace are being held without bail, even though they have pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.

Hernandez is being held at Cedar Junction, a maximum-security facility in Walpole, for the time being. He will be processed there and eventually taken to Souza Baranowski prison in Shirley, another maximum-security institution, according to Darren Duarte, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Department of Corrections.

One would think that life imprisonment without the possibility of parole was bad enough for Hernandez, but he still has more legal trouble. A trial date will be announced soon for double murders in Boston.

On May 15, 2014, Hernandez was indicted for the double homicide of Daniel de Abreu, 29, and Safiro Furtado, 28, on July 16, 2012. That trial is expected to be much shorter. Prosecutors have indicated they have the weapon, surveillance footage, and an eyewitness. The families of the two victims’ are seeking $6 million each in civil suits.

So many lives have been impacted by these murders. Even though Ursula Ward is still in mourning over the death of her son, she forgives Aaron Hernandez for murdering him. Odin Lloyd’s mother said, “I forgive the hands of the people who had a hand in my son’s murder, even before or after.”

[Image via Getty Images]