Massachusetts prosecutors appealed a court ruling that erased Aaron Hernandez's murder conviction. The former NFL star's conviction in the killing of Odin Lloyd was voided after he committed suicide. A legal precedent in the state allows a conviction to be vacated if a defendant dies before direct appeal can be heard. Hernandez committed suicide in his jail cell on April 19, 5 days after he was acquitted of a 2012 Boston double murder. Hernandez was convicted of Llyod's murder in June 2013, and serving life in prison without parole before he took his own life.