What to Know
- Former Patriots star Aaron Hernandez was convicted in 2015 of murdering his friend, 27-year-old Odin Lloyd, in 2013.
- Hernandez was found dead in his prison cell days after he was acquitted in the trial of a separate 2012 double homicide in Boston.
- A judge threw out Hernandez's murder conviction after his death, citing a legal principle rooted in centuries of English law.
The late New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez expected to be released from jail and resume his football career shortly after his arrest on a murder charge, according to newly released jailhouse telephone calls.
Hernandez, convicted of one killing and acquitted of two others, took his own life in prison in April 2017.
The Boston Globe reported that the Bristol County sheriff this week released more than 900 phone conversations Hernandez had with family and friends.
In the calls, he angrily responds to rumors of being gay and denies using angel dust.
He also shows disdain for Patriots coach Bill Belichick for not supporting him after he was charged.
“Bill Belichick is the number one person who teaches his team, don’t listen to the media because most of the time they make up stories and they’re rarely true,’’ Hernandez told former Patriots teammate Brandon Spikes. “I wish he practiced what he preached, especially coming to me, throwing me in the dust with the wind.’’
U.S. & World
In several of the calls, he references a possible return to football once he is released.
In another call to Spikes, Hernandez said, “Check this out: I get to pick what team I want to be on once I get out.’’
“I’m still going to be young when I get out of jail, so you know I’m going to try to play ball again,’’ he told his friend Mike Pouncey, an NFL player and former University of Florida teammate.
Hernandez's mother, Terri Hernandez, told the newspaper via email in a rare public comment that her son changed dramatically and directed a lot of his anger toward her.
He was posthumously diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease.
