Aaron Hernandez died an innocent man; Patriots might owe his estate millions

Hernandez was serving a life sentence in the shooting death of semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd, who was dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancée.

Under an obscure Massachusetts doctrine, the state must throw out the conviction for a felon who dies before his appeal can be heard.

Legally, it is as if Hernandez was never convicted.

Hernandez was found hanged in his cell early Wednesday — less than a week after a jury acquitted him in the shooting deaths of 2 men in Boston in 2012.

Hernandez reportedly scrawled “JOHN 3:16” on his forehead in his own blood before hanging himself with a bed sheet.

If the Patriots pay Hernandez’s estate the millions he is owed, the families of Lloyd, Safiro Furtado and Daniel DeAbreu (the Boston victims), are waiting in line for their cut.

Hernandez’s attorney said his brain will be donated to CTE research.