Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez has been found guilty of first-degree murder following the death of Massachusetts resident Odin Lloyd in June 2013.
Hernandez didn’t react as the verdict was announced this morning in court, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole around half an hour later.
The 25-year-old was also found guilty of unlawful possession of a firearm, as well as unlawful possession of ammunition.
The verdict was announced in a Fall River, Massachusetts, courtroom in front of Lloyd and Hernandez’s respective families, including the former NFL star's fiancée, Shayanna Jenkins, as well as many members of the local and national media.
Two others, Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace, both pleaded not guilty to the murder of Lloyd and will both be tried separately.
The tight end last played for the Patriots in the 2013 AFC Championship Game against the Baltimore Ravens, five months before murdering 27-year-old Lloyd on June 17th 2013.
The fourth-round pick signed a seven-year contract for Bill Belichick's side in 2012, which could have been worth nearly $40 million to the tight end, with $15 million guaranteed. However this was not fulfilled after his release from the Patriots in June 2013, which came just 90 minutes after his initial arrest on June 26th 2013.
Hernandez is also up for trial in a separate case, likely to start in May although that may be pushed back, where he has been accused of murdering Daniel Jorge Correia de Abreu, 29, and Safiro Teixeira Furtado, 28, in Boston in 2012.