Battle for brain after ex-Patriot Hernandez death

Aaron Hernandez sitting in the courtroom of the Attleboro District Court during his hearing in North Attleboro, Massachusetts in August 2013 © GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File / Jared Wickerham

NEW YORK, United States, Apr 21 – A day after former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez was found dead in his prison cell, his defense attorneys are battling a chief medical examiner over his brain.

With concern over the impact that repeated blows to the head can cause NFL players and brain examination only possible after death, the Hernandez family plans to donate his brain to Boston University for concussion research tests.

But lawyer Jose Baez said the medical examiner is “illegally” holding the brain, his release of the body to a funeral home Thursday not including Hernandez’s brain.

“It’s our position that they are holding Aaron Hernandez’s brain illegally,” Baez said. “There’s a fixing procedure to prepare these specimens. It is their position that they are going to be the ones to do the fixing procedure. The family does not have confidence in the medical examiner’s office.”

The medical examiner’s office declined comment.

Baez said the family decided on giving the brain to Boston University to seek signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) — the debilitating brain disease that researchers say is caused in part by concussions while playing American football and other head trauma.

“The family of Aaron Hernandez has decided to donate Aaron’s brain to the study so we can possibly help other young men who play football … further the cause, and possibly shed light and provide more evidence on this case,” Baez said.

Hernandez, who was 27, was serving a life sentence handed down in 2015 for the murder of Odin Lloyd.

His apparent suicide — prison officials say he hanged himself — came only five days after he was acquitted on double-murder charges in a separate case, and the timing of his death and absence of a suicide note has left many perplexed.

“There were no conversations or correspondence from Aaron to his family or legal team that would have indicated anything like this was possible,” Baez said. “Aaron was looking forward to an opportunity for a second chance to prove his innocence. Those who love and care about him are heartbroken and determined to find the truth surrounding his untimely death.”

Guards discovered the body of Hernandez hanging by a bedsheet from a cell window at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Department of Corrections said.

The maximum security state prison is not far from the Patriots’ home stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

Hernandez signed a seven-year, $40 million contract with the Patriots prior to the 2012 season. His death came on the same day the Patriots visited the White House to mark their Super Bowl 51 comeback victory over Atlanta.

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