Some close to Hernandez not convinced his death was suicide

April 19, 2017 5:47 pm

By Alana Cerrone

acerrone@abc6.com

@Alana_Cerrone

Aaron Hernandez was visibly overwhelmed with emotion -even shedding tears – after he was acquitted of murder charges in a 2012 double murder. One of his defense attorneys, George Leontire, says Hernandez was very grateful towards his defense team.

So why, just 5 days later, would he commit suicide? His defense team and former agent say they don’t believe he did.

In a statement, defense attorney Jose Baez suggested that Hernandez never hinted at being suicidal. He says in part, "There were no conversations or correspondence from Aaron to his family or legal team that would have indicated anything like this was possible. Aaron was looking forward to an opportunity for a second chance to prove his innocence."

Baez and his law firm are launching their own investigation, they say, to "find the truth" behind his death.

Brian Murphy, the president of the agency that represented Hernandez during his NFL career, expressed similar disbelief. He took to Twitter, saying, "Absolutely no chance he took his own life. Chico was not a saint, but my family and I loved him and he would never take his own life."