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posted by CoolHand on Friday September 22 2017, @05:27PM   Printer-friendly
from the bashing-things-together dept.

Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, who committed suicide a week after being acquitted of double homicide, has been found to have had severe signs (original AP text) of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Hernandez's brain had been released to Boston University by his family for study. In 2015, Hernandez was found guilty for the murder of Odin Lloyd and automatically sentenced to life in prison without a possibility of parole:

Tests conducted on the brain of former football star Aaron Hernandez showed severe signs of the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and his attorney said Thursday that the player's daughter is suing the NFL and the New England Patriots for leading Hernandez to believe the sport was safe.

In a news conference at his offices, Hernandez's attorney, Jose Baez, said the testing showed one of the most severe cases ever diagnosed. "We're told it was the most severe case they had ever seen for someone of Aaron's age," Baez said. Hernandez was 27 when he killed himself in April. Dr. Ann McKee, the director of the CTE Center at Boston University, concluded that the New England Patriots tight end had stage 3 of 4 of the disease and also had early brain atrophy and large perforations in a central membrane.

[...] A week before his suicide, Hernandez was acquitted in the 2012 drive-by shootings of two men in Boston. Prosecutors had argued that Hernandez gunned the two men down after one accidentally spilled a drink on him in a nightclub, and then got a tattoo of a handgun and the words "God Forgives" to commemorate the crime.

Baez said he deeply regretted not raising the issue of Hernandez's having CTE during his murder trials. He said the defense team did not blame CTE for the murders because Hernandez's defense was actual innocence.

Previously: NFL Acknowledges Link Between American Football and CTE
What if PTSD is More Physical Than Psychological?
Ailing NFL Players' Brains Show Signs of Neurodegenerative Disease


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  • (Score: -1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 22 2017, @06:59PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 22 2017, @06:59PM (#571746)

    About the negative impact of a stupid game. Yawn.

    Film at 11.

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