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[Dsyndrome]

The appeal to the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts specifically targets the "abatement" rule, which holds that murder convictions are tossed out if a defendant dies before his appeal has been heard by a court.
"This is an archaic rule not based on the Constitution, and it should be changed. A defendant who commits suicide should not be able to manipulate the outcome of his post-conviction proceedings to achieve in death what he would not be able to achieve in life," District Attorney Thomas Quinn said in a statement.

Hernandez was convicted of murder for the June 2013 killing of Odin Lloyd, who was dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancee. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, but he had appealed the decision.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/23/us/aaron-hernandez-appeal-conviction/index.html
I tend to agree, lock if old.

 

[Volimar]

I agree with Quinn.

 

[alr1ght]

Good. It's a ridiculous rule to vacate it.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Someone has to ELI5 this for me.

Is it just about closure for the victims friends and family, would it be fair to hold true to the conviction but not the appeal, is any of that worth the resources and money it would cost?

 

[Mammoth Jones]

Agreed. Choices have consequences.

 

[PeskyToaster]

Does it even matter?

 

[smokeymicpot]

Does it even matter?

Yes because the family will try to get money from the Pats if he is innocent.

 

[Frozenprince]

Does it even matter?

Yes, his victims families aren't able to collect any restitution from his estate due to this.

His estate is also entitled to millions from his football contracts if it's void.

 

[greepoman]

Someone has to ELI5 this for me.

Is it just about closure for the victims friends and family, would it be fair to hold true to the conviction but not the appeal, is any of that worth the resources and money it would cost?

Not sure the prosecutor's motive but I believe it may determine if the Patriots owe him millions of dollars or not. Now I remember seeing they didn't want to set a precedent where a criminal to benefit financially from committing suicide.

 

[Earthbound64]

Someone has to ELI5 this for me.

Is it just about closure for the victims friends and family, would it be fair to hold true to the conviction but not the appeal, is any of that worth the resources and money it would cost?

How about someone who was in the military, who killed someone but then committed suicide before he could be tried, do his children still get "Children of military personnel" benefits?

Yes, his victims families aren't able to collect any restitution from his estate due to this.

His estate is also entitled to millions from his football contracts if it's void.

Also this.

Although, frankly, the Patriots should be out the money and have to donate it to a charity or give it to the victim's family or something. Why should they benefit from all of this?

 

[SomedayTheFire]

Hopefully

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

How about someone who was in the military, who killed someone but then committed suicide before he could be tried, do his children still get "Children of military personnel" benefits?

Should you punish the children for the mistakes of the parent?

Not sure the prosecutor's motive but I believe it may determine if the Patriots owe him millions of dollars or not. Now I remember seeing they didn't want to set a precedent where a criminal to benefit financially from committing suicide.

That complicates matters.

 

[Dsyndrome]

Should you punish the children for the mistakes of the parent?

Yes, you should.
Commander of a submarine gets "ambitious" and rapes a young female junior officer. He retires before charges are filed because of years in. Dismayed at the consequences/shame of his actions when a civil suit is filed, he kills himself. His family shouldn't get his retirement pay solely because, if he was found guilty, that they are accustomed to it or he magically was not found liable.

 

[Brakke]

why did a submarine surface in this thread

 

[ryan13ts]

Yes, his victims families aren't able to collect any restitution from his estate due to this.

His estate is also entitled to millions from his football contracts if it's void.

I'll play devil's advocate and say that his family / loved ones shouldn't be the ones to suffer losing anything they could have possibly obtained from his estate in the case that his appeal was granted and he managed to skate on murder charges the second time. Just because they're the family of a murderer doesn't mean they don't deserve anything from his estate.

It's just as possible that he could have had an appeal on granted on a technicality before he died, so I understand the reasoning behind the law (Which is basically a 'What if' clause). If that happened and he committed suicide then, this would all be moot anyways. I say leave it vacated and the estate should give the victim's family a sizeable amount of restitution as a decent gesture... Although that's doubtful.

 

[Dsyndrome]

why did a submarine surface in this thread

Past job, sorry.

 

[GoldenEye 007]

It's a dumb rule to have on the books. At least in it's current form. The idea that an original trial can be wiped out potentially years later because the convict kills themselves. Just baffling.

 

[Brakke]

I'll play devil's advocate and say that his family / loved ones shouldn't be the ones to suffer losing anything they could have possibly obtained from his estate in the case that his appeal was granted and he managed to skate on murder charges the second time. Just because they're the family of a murderer doesn't mean they don't deserve anything from his estate.

It's just as possible that he could have had an appeal on granted on a technicality before he died, so I understand the reasoning behind the law (Which is basically a 'What if' clause). If that happened and he committed suicide then, this would all be moot anyways.

If he wanted to beat the rap on appeal to save that payment, he should've -- you know -- not killed himself and actually fought the conviction.

Past job, sorry.

Oh woah. I thought it was a totally out of left field hypothetical but it's actually a totally relevant true thing! My bad!

 

[GatorBait]

How about someone who was in the military, who killed someone but then committed suicide before he could be tried, do his children still get "Children of military personnel" benefits?

This hypothetical isn't really the same as the Hernandez case, but it does bring about a good point:

Would passing this law just move the timeline so an accused just commits suicide prior to standing trial, if the benefit is big enough for his/her family? I want to say, probably not, unless there is overwhelming evidence because then its basically just gambling with your life; there's always the chance the defendant can be found not guilty during the trial.

 

[Earthbound64]

Should you punish the children for the mistakes of the parent?

How does asking that here even make sense?
Especially when you asked the original question of why in the first place.

I mean, you're asking that when the alternative is rewarding the children for the deeds of the parent (except the last couple of deeds, because reasons).
Do you think that anything a parent has should go away as soon as they pass on and the children should get none of it, then?

 

[Jenov]

Good, hope they get it reinstated. Such a bullshit loophole that piece of shit abused.

 

[Skellig Gra]

That law is dumb. Let his attorneys go through with the appeal proceedings and the outcome of that will determine things,

 

[zelas]

Why go straight to tossing out murder convictions in the first place??? Why not default to the previous ruling or some other courtroom gimmick?