Falls from grace don’t come much greater than that of Aaron Hernandez.
The former New England Patriots star was today found guilty of the murder of Odin Lloyd in 2013.
The first degree murder conviction is met with a mandatory life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole and goes along with other guilty charges of multiple firearm violations.
Lloyd had been dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancee when he was shot six times in an industrial park in Massachusetts.
Hernandez’s defence team conceded that their client was present when Lloyd was fatally shot but insisted that he did not commit the murder, a story that the 12-person jury obviously didn’t believe.
The tight-end was seen as one of the best prospects in the NFL after the Patriots had signed him to a $40 million contract but Hernandez was cut almost immediately after being arrested.
The guilty verdict will automatically be appealed to Massachusetts’ highest court but a date has yet to be set.
Hernandez also awaits trial having being charged in relation to a double-murder in Boston in 2012.
The 25-year-old is accused of shooting Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado after an argument in a nightclub.
Six weeks after De Abreu and Furtado were killed Hernandez, who denies the charges, signed a five-year $40 million contract with the Patriots.
