ESPN reported that the jury deliberated for six days and returned with a not guilty verdict for the former New England Patriots football star. Hernandez was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2015, though he has appealed for a new trial in that case.
Prosecutors allege that was Hernandez, who was apparently upset and felt disrespected when one of the men bumped into him and spilled his drink inside the nightclub. A jury found him guilty of unlawful possession of a gun.
The former sportsman is now serving a life sentence in Souza Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, Massachusetts for a separate incident, after being found guilty of first degree murder in 2015 for the killing of Odin Lloyd.
Though Friday's verdict has no impact on that conviction, the Associated Press reports that emotions still ran high in the Boston courtroom.
In a rare Patriots mistake, Hernandez was given a 5 year $40 million contract just 6 weeks after the 2012 murders took place. According to Alexander Bradley, who was with Hernandez on the night of the shooting, the former National Football League athlete became angry when a man bumped into him at a nightclub and made him spill his drink.
Seven months later, someone-who was apparently not Aaron Hernandez-shot Bradley.
Conversely, defense attorney Ronald Sullivan Jr. praised the jury for seeing past the "smoke and mirrors" of the prosecution's case.
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Missing some content? Care to comment? The double murder charges stemmed from an altercation that reportedly started over a spilled drink and ended with Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado dead.
But Suffolk County's district attorney Daniel Conley said he was "disappointed" with the result. The Boston Globe reported that when asked about the laws concerning immunized witnesses, Judge Locke said that they could not convict Aaron Hernandez of the double-murder based exclusively on the testimony of an immunized witness.
Conley said Friday that prosecutors would not go after Bradley in the killings because they believe they already charged the right person.
The trial stems from a 2012 shooting, that began in a nightclub that Hernandez was in.
After a night out in February 2013, Hernandez shot Bradley between the eyes and left him in a parking lot to die, Bradley testified. Hernandez wanted five bullets visible in the cylinder of the gun and one cylinder empty, Nelson said.
Hernandez's defense team in the double-murder trial included Jose Baez, known for winning an acquittal for Florida mom Casey Anthony in the death of her daughter.
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