Aaron Hernandez verdict: Former Patriots tight end found guilty of first-degree murder

Aaron Hernandez has been found guilty of the first-degree murder of his friend, Boston Bandits linebacker Odin Lloyd.

Odin Lloyd’s relatives wept in the Massachusetts courthouse as the verdict was announced on live TV.

Former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Aaron Hernandez arrested on June 26, 2013, 9 days after the murder of Odin Lloyd.

He was charged with killing Odin Lloyd, a semi-pro player who was dating the sister of Aaron Hernandez’s fiancée.

Odin Lloyd’s body was found with six bullet wounds less than a mile from Aaron Hernandez’s home.

At the time, Aaron Hernandez had a contract worth $40 million.

Within hours of his arrest, the Patriots sacked Aaron Hernandez, considered one of the top tight ends playing the game.

Aaron Hernandez is not an isolated case.

NFL players have been charged with any number of crimes over the years, from rape to dog-fighting.

Active NFL players are aged, in the main, between 21 and 34 and the arrest rate for that demographic is one in eight.

The arrest rate for people of Aaron Hernandez’s age – he was 23 – is a startling one in six.

During closing arguments, his defense team acknowledged that he was present during the murder but said others committed the crime.

Prosecutors say Aaron Hernandez planned the “orchestrated execution” because of an incident in a night club, and then helped to cover it up.

He was found guilty of murder and other weapons charges on the seventh day of jury deliberations.

In a tearful statement to the court, Odin Lloyd’s mother Ursula Ward called him the “backbone of the family”.