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A jury in April found Hernandez guilty of murdering
semi-professional football player Odin Lloyd at a North
Attleborough, industrial park not far from Hernandez's home.
The former New England Patriots tight end is awaiting a second
trial in December on charges of fatally shooting two Cape
Verdean nationals outside a Boston nightclub in 2012, after a
dispute involving a spilled drink.
Massachusetts Superior Court Associate Justice Susan Garsh
rejected a defense claim that the prosecution, which never
produced a murder weapon and relied largely on circumstantial
evidence, had failed to prove its case.
"The court finds that a rational jury could find that the
Commonwealth proved every essential element of the crimes
charged," Garsh wrote. "The verdict rendered by the jury is
consonant with justice."
Hernandez, who was a rising star in the NFL with a $41 million
contract, was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of
parole for Lloyd's murder. The team cut him hours after his
arrest on June 26, 2013, nine days after a teenage jogger found
Lloyd's body.
The jury that found him guilty of Lloyd's murder was not told he
was also awaiting charges of fatally shooting Daniel Abreu and
Safirdo Furtado a year earlier.
(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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