A bid by former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez to have his conviction on a first-degree murder charge in the death of Odin Lloyd has been denied in Massachusetts.
Hernandez’s attorneys filed motions asking Bristol County Superior Court Judge Susan Garsh to set aside the jury’s verdict and find Hernandez not guilty of murder and one of the gun charges he was also convicted of in April because the state “utterly failed” to prove its case. Garsh didn’t agree with their argument.
“Considering the evidence in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, the court finds that a rational jury could find that the Commonwealth proved every essential element of the crimes charged in counts 1 and 2 beyond a reasonable doubt,” Garsh wrote, via the Hartford Courant.
The defense attorneys also asked Garsh to reduce the first-degree murder charge because the crime did not “deviate in any drastic sense” from those resulting in second-degree murder charges. That request was also denied, but Hernandez can still pursue an appeal while also preparing for a December trial on charges that he murdered two other men in July 2012.