There always will be questions about Aaron Hernandez’s troubled life and what ultimately caused the former New England Patriots tight end to commit suicide in 2017 while in prison for the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd.
But perhaps Hernandez’s final days weren’t all that depressing.
Hernandez’s lawyer, Jose Baez, opened up about his deceased client for a two-part docu-series on Oxygen called “Aaron Hernandez Uncovered,” which explores the ex-football star’s rapid fall from grace. Hernandez was serving a life sentence without parole for Lloyd’s murder when he was discovered hanging from a bedsheet in his prison cell, but he had recently been acquitted of committing a double murder in 2012 and, according to Baez, appeared to be in good spirits.
“Aaron’s final days were happy days,” Baez said, per FOX News. “He was excited by the fact that he got acquitted. He was looking forward to the future. The best way I could describe it is through his own words. He said, ‘I feel like a kid again.’ He was so excited and happy.”
Boston University revealed shortly after Hernandez’s death that he suffered from the most severe case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) ever discovered in a person his age (27). It’s possible this impacted Hernandez’s decision-making, adding to what truly is a sad story on so many levels, and Baez still believes his client was innocent of murder.
“Aaron was not a killer,” Baez said, per FOX News. “While he was a very flawed human being, he had many good qualities to him. And I think his legacy and the storyline have to deal with Aaron should be looked at a little bit differently.”
“Everybody who knew Aaron absolutely loved him,” he added. “And the biggest problem was not that many people knew him. To this very day, everyone Aaron touched is incredibly distraught over it all.”
Simply put, we’ll never know the full story. But it’s worth trying to piece everything together.
