The legal doctrine that enabled attorneys for former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez to have his murder conviction overturned in the wake of his prison suicide in Massachusetts last month is not recognized in Connecticut, according to practicing attorneys in the Nutmeg State.

Judge Susan Garsh, who had sentenced Hernandez to life in prison two years ago after a jury in Fall River Superior Court found him guilty of murdering his one-time friend Odin Lloyd, on Tuesday said she had no choice but to vacate the conviction. Attorneys for Hernandez had argued that the doctrine of abatement ab initio, the rule of law in Massachusetts for more than a century, held that the conviction had to be vacated because Hernandez had not yet exhausted his appeals. Garsh said abatement has been practiced for more than a century in state and federal courts.

Calling the principle of abatement "antiquated," Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn III, who had prosecuted Hernandez, said he would appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Judicial Court.

Had Hernandez been convicted in his home state of Connecticut, legal precedent holds that the conviction would stand but the appeal, having become moot, would be dismissed.

"I don't think dying is a way to evade your conviction," said attorney Lawrence J. Tytla, supervisory assistant state's attorney in the New London Judicial District.

The closest concept Tytla could think of to the abatement doctrine in Connecticut is a posthumous pardon, or granting a pardon to someone after he dies, which Tytla said he has never seen in more than 30 years of practicing law.

Ursula Ward, the mother of victim Lloyd, told reporters after Tuesday's court hearing that she is not angry and that her family would always consider Hernandez guilty.

Connecticut Victim Advocate Natasha M. Pierre, an attorney, said victims and their families want closure, and vacating a conviction "does the opposite." 

"They want the case to be over, the sentence done," Pierre said. "In Connecticut, that would have been the case. Even if he was going to appeal, he would still be under the sentence he had before the appeal. This is particular to their (Massachusetts) state law."

Lloyd was killed on June 17, 2013, in North Attleborough, Mass. Hernandez was arrested nine days later, but the case didn't go to trial until 2015 and the appeal process was still underway when Hernandez died last month.

"They've spend years on this trial," Pierre said of Lloyd's family. "They thought they were getting to the end. Not only do they have a conviction, they have a vacated conviction. In the future it will look like it wasn't a real case."

The Boston Globe reported Tuesday that the Lloyd family is expected to go forward with its wrongful death lawsuit against Hernandez's estate. In Massachusetts, as in Connecticut, a civil lawsuit can continue despite the death of either the plaintiff or the defendant.

"If you have a car accident or medical malpractice case, when someone dies and an executor is appointed, they substitute the executor in place of the person who has passed away and it proceeds," Norwich Probate Judge Charles K. Norris said. "If I'm suing a driver who passed away, all I have to do is sue the executor or the administrator of the estate. It still goes on." 

When such cases are resolved, the agreement must be approved by the probate court, Norris said.

Norris said now that Hernandez's conviction has been vacated, the family's wrongful death lawsuit becomes more similar to one brought against another disgraced NFL figure: O.J. Simpson.

A jury in 1995 found Simpson not guilty of the stabbing deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman. In acquitting him, the jurors found that prosecutors had not met their burden of proving him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Simpson won the criminal case, but was later found liable of the two deaths in civil court in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by Goldman's family. The burden of proof in the civil action was lower. The jury had to find by a preponderance of the evidence that Simpson's unlawful conduct resulted in their deaths.

In the civil case brought against Hernandez, a judge already has made a preliminary finding that Hernandez was at fault, the Globe reported.

k.florin@theday.com