When Aaron Hernandez was found dead in his prison cell on April 19, 2017 after hanging himself, authorities also discovered the former NFL star’s last words in three handwritten suicide notes. In the weeks following Hernandez’s death, a portion of one note — addressed to his fiancée, Shayanna Jenkins — was released in a legal filing by the prosecution.
At the time, prosecutors intended to use the suicide note to argue Hernandez’s first-degree murder conviction should not be vacated because of his death. As CNN reported, the annulment of his guilty verdict would “reward the defendant’s conscious, deliberate and voluntary act,” said the court filing.
Massachusetts, the state where Hernandez was tried, recognizes the legal principle of “abatement ab initio,” which allows courts to void convictions for defendants if they die before exhausting all their appeals. And in Massachusetts, first-degree murder convictions prompt an automatic appeal.
Prosecutors, however, were looking to
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