The apparent suicide of Aaron Hernandez on Wednesday was a shock to anyone in the sports and legal world. A week ago, after 37 hour of deliberation, a jury found Aaron Hernandez not guilty for the 2012 murders of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado. It was a huge win for Hernandez, who was serving a life sentence for the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd. Hernandez was in the process of appealing his conviction at the time of his death and due to a "hidden in the shadows" law that most regular people don't know about. Abatement ab initio means "from the beginning" and if a person dies before their appeals is completed the case returns to the beginning. So the trial for the murder of Odin Lloyd and the conviction never happened leaving Aaron Hernandez going to his death an innocent man. Well, the Patriots and the NFL may now be on the hook for millions since Hernandez technically has not been convicted of any crimes. If the conviction vanishes then the Hernandez estate could be owed his NFL