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U.S. NEWS Friday 9 November 2018

Court urged

to end rule

that erased

Hernandez's

conviction

By ALANNA DURKIN RICH-
ER, Associated Press
BOSTON (AP) — A legal
principle that erased for-
mer New England Patriot's
player Aaron Hernandez's
murder conviction after he
killed himself in prison is out-
dated, unfair and should
not stand, a Massachusetts
prosecutor told the state's
highest court Thursday.
Bristol County District Attor-
ney Thomas Quinn III said it
doesn't make sense the for-
mer New England Patriots
tight end is now innocent
in the eyes of the law just
because he died before
his appeal could be heard.
Quinn is urging the court to
reinstate Hernandez's con-
viction and do away with
the legal principle for fu-
ture cases.
"He goes through a full trial,
a jury who speaks for the
public convicts him and
because he dies, in this
case commits suicide, the
whole thing is wiped out
like it never happened? It's
not fair or just and should
be changed," Quinn told
reporters after the hearing.
Hernandez was found
guilty in 2015 of killing semi-
professional football player
Odin Lloyd. Two years later,
the 27-year-old was found
dead in his prison cell days
after being acquitted of
most charges in a separate
double-murder case.
A judge threw out Hernan-
dez's conviction last year,
citing the legal principle
that holds that a defen-
dant convicted at trial who
dies before an appeal is
heard should no longer
be considered guilty in the
eyes of the law, thereby re-
turning the case to its pre-
trial status.
Legal experts say the doc-
trine, rooted in centuries
of English law, requires a
conviction not be consid-
ered final until an appeal
can determine whether
mistakes were made that
deprived the defendant of
a fair trial.q