You’d assume that getting a life term sentence in prison would be enough, but the Aaron Hernandez saga is far from over, and he’s got one more potential criminal trial coming up along with two civil actions. His response upon hearing his guilty verdict today had the former NFL star mouthing the words, ‘wrong’, but he sat down after the first guilty verdict and remained seated while the jury foreman read the rest. His lawyers are making a fortune and will continue so if he holds on to them for the next rounds.
Next up is another murder trial in which he is accused of killing two men and wounding another person near a Boston nightclub in July 2012.
Prosecutors have said Hernandez fatally shot Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado when he fired into their 2003 BMW. Another passenger was wounded and two others were uninjured.
Hernandez pleaded not guilty at his arraignment.
The trial was originally slated for May 28, but Jake Wark, spokesman for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, said Wednesday the trial had been postponed and no new date had been set.
“We expect to select a new court date in the coming days and then set the amended trial track. The Suffolk indictments allege two counts of first-degree murder for the July 16, 2012, shooting deaths of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado in Boston’s South End; three counts of armed assault with intent to murder and one count of assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon for shots fired at three surviving victims; and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm,” he said.
The families of de Abreu and Furtado filed civil suits against Hernandez, and a judge froze his $5 million in assets, pending the outcome of the double-murder trial. The freeze includes the disputed $3.3 million signing bonus payment Hernandez claims he is owed by the New England Patriots.
Hernandez is also being sued by a man who claims Hernandez shot him while they were in a limousine in Miami in February 2013.
Alexander Bradley claims the then-New England Patriot tight end wounded him after the two got into a fight at a Miami strip club.
In a lawsuit filed four months later, Bradley said Hernandez fired at him during a limo ride after leaving the club and that Hernandez intentionally “possessed a gun which he was not legally licensed to have.”
Hernandez’s lawyers have argued he couldn’t defend himself properly while on trial in Massachusetts. There was no criminal charge in the case.
And then there is the grievance over unpaid bonus money filed by the NFL players union on behalf of Hernandez, who signed a contract in 2012 that potentially was worth more than $40 million.
If the grievance is heard by the league, Hernandez will be represented by the the National Football League Players’ Association.