A jury in Massachusetts has found 25-year-old former NFL star Aaron Hernandez guilty on all counts against him, including first-degree murder, related to the June 2013 shooting death of acquaintance Odin Lloyd. The murder conviction carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.
Hernandez’s trial lasted more than two months, and observers were not confident that he would be convicted; no murder weapon was ever recovered, and the only alleged witnesses to the crime are charged as accessories and did not testify. District attorneys were also legally prevented from discussing what they believe to be Hernandez’s motive. From the AP:
Prosecutors have suggested Lloyd may have been killed because he knew too much about Hernandez’s alleged involvement in a deadly 2012 drive-by shooting in Boston. But they were not allowed to tell the jury that because the judge said it was speculation.
As a result, they never offered a motive beyond saying Hernandez appeared angry with Lloyd at a nightclub two nights before the killing.
Hernandez also faces two counts of first-degree murder in the 2012 case.
