Aaron Hernandez's Family Will Be Paid Following Suicide And Dismissed Case, Former Patriots Star Says

While Aaron Hernandez’s conviction for a 2013 murder was dismissed by a Massachusetts judge Tuesday, there has been speculation over whether his family will be able to claim the millions withheld by his former team and the NFL.

A former New England Patriots star, however, feels the team's owner — Robert Kraft, CEO of the Kraft Group — will pay Hernandez’s family the $6 million that reports say the team and NFL owed the former player. Hernandez’s conviction for murdering Odin Lloyd in 2013 was being appealed at the time of his death. On Tuesday, the conviction was dismissed because of a Massachusetts legal rule known as “abatement ab initio.”

Read: Aaron Hernandez's Family May Not Get Paid By The Patriots, Report Says

Hernandez was on a five-year contract worth $40 million with the Patriots when he was arrested, following which his salary and bonus payments were terminated. The team may be obligated to pay his family the $3.5 million bonus Hernandez lost as a result of his arrest, in addition to $2.5 million in base salary, according to reports.

Willie McGinest, who played 12 seasons with the Patriots, told TMZ in an exclusive interview he believes Kraft will pay the outstanding money after the abatement for two reasons.

The first reason stated by the former Patriots player was that the team’s billionaire owner “has a heart” and would want to take care of Hernandez’s daughter Avielle Janelle Hernandez. The second reason, according to McGinest, was that Kraft is not the type of person to back out of an obligation.

Hernandez committed suicide by hanging himself from a bed sheet in his cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Lancaster, Massachusetts. He died while he was appealing his 2013 conviction and just a few days after he was acquitted in a separate 2012 double murder.

The former Patriots tight end reportedly left three suicide notes, one of which was addressed to his fiancée Shayanna Jenkins Hernandez. He wrote: “You have always been my soul mate and I want you to live life and know I’m always with you. I told you what was coming indirectly! I love you so much and know you are an angel- literally!”

The noted ended with: “Let [redacted] know how much I love her! Look after [redacted] and [redacted] for me – those are my boys (YOURE RICH).”

The last part, where he claimed that his fiancée would be rich after he died, is being contested by law experts.

“The arrest and the facts surrounding the arrest, the facts as presented to a criminal jury – that should give the NFL or the team, whoever is under the obligation to pay him, plenty of ammunition to say ‘we don’t have to pay you anymore,’” Rosanna Cavallaro, a professor of law at Suffolk University in Massachusetts, told Fox Business.

She said a contract like Hernandez’s would follow the NFL’s collective-bargaining agreement and not the decision of a criminal court, and also possibly include a conduct clause that would allow the franchise to withhold payment of salary or bonuses in the event of wrongdoing.

Jose Baez, Hernandez’s lawyer, reportedly said the family wanted to focus on grieving at the moment and they were not looking to rush discussions about a possible payout.