Wednesday, 4 a.m.
And so, after all of this time, Aaron Hernandez is not a murderer.
Of course, that will be great news for Odin Lloyd, who we can assume is safe to rejoin the living. Wait. What? He can't?
Anyway, according to an antique quirk in Massachusetts law, kind of the one that let's Curt Schilling vote, Hernandez is now not guilty, and never mind the smoking gun in his hand. Lawrence Phillips, who committed suicide in his own prison, is still
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guilty, because California doesn't have such a loopy law. But Hernandez committed his crime in a state where the legal system still surrounds the stockade and burning witches and outlawing snoring, so today his reputation is shiny again.
Why, Hernandez is not guilty, just like O.J. Simpson and Lizzie Bordon and the 1919 Chicago White Sox.
But we know better.
You wonder: Does Massachusetts have a law where banks become unrobbed, where cars become un-rearended, where funny money gets serious? A guy kills himself, and suddenly, all is forgiven?
I know: Let's make Hernandez man of the year. Let's build a statue outside the Patriots' practice facility. Let's make him a victim.
Of course, if Hernandez was never found guilty, then maybe there wasn't even a trail. Maybe the courts erased that, too. And if there was no trial, then the defense team of Sleazy, Slimey and Goo cannot charge for anything. So those bills should be torn up, too. Right?
Seriously, you can say what you want, but a judge cannot alter history. Hernandez was found guilty of murder, and long after he is dust, he's going to be remembered as a a killer, as a thug, as a man who amazingly skirted on a double-murder charge. Hernandez was a wrong guy that the sport of football kept trying to make into a right one, but Hernandez wouldn't allow it. And you canot make me forget that.
In the end, he turned his violent streak on himself. Is that any reason for him to profit? (Because of his death appeal, Hernandez's estate may be eligibile to collect $6 million from the Patriots.) That may be the law, but it's not common sense.
Hey, the jury said guilty. People heard it. You can't go back and erase that. You can't put the bullet back in the gun. You can't turn Hernadez into the Fugitive, falsely accused.
He was a thug. He was a murderer. Lloyd's survivors can still sue his estate; let's hope they go over the grounds with a metal detector.
If it costs Massachusetts millions that he's gone, well, it's worth it.
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