On April 15, 2015, Hernandez was found guilty of first-degree murder, as well as five weapon charges, which required a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

On May 12, 2016, Wallace was acquitted of first-degree murder of Lloyd, but was convicted of being an accessory after the fact of the crime; he was sentenced to serve four and a half to seven years in prison.

On April 14, 2017, Hernandez was acquitted on two separate murder charges for the 2012 double homicide of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado.

By killing himself before the appeal of his case could be completed, Hernandez's murder conviction was vacated, technically returning him to a state of innocent until proven guilty.

In March 2019, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court overturned the entire doctrine of abatement ab initio, thus reinstating his original murder conviction.

[9] Odin Leonardo John Lloyd was born in Saint Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands and spent a few years with his family in Antigua, before they moved to the Dorchester section of Boston.

On June 16, the night before Lloyd's death, Hernandez texted two friends from his hometown of Bristol, Connecticut asking them to come to Massachusetts, writing, "You can't trust anyone anymore.

Based on an upheld defendant's attorney objection, the court dismissed the texts as testimony, saying there was insufficient evidence that Lloyd feared for his life.

The Massachusetts State Police obtained a search warrant after evidence surfaced that Hernandez had intentionally destroyed his home security system.

[30][31] The first-degree murder charge required a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole,[32] as Massachusetts outlawed the death penalty in 1984.

As reported by the Associated Press, a subsequent search of the apartment "turned up ammunition and clothing that police believe could be evidence in the murder case against him".

[40] On April 9, 2015, a photographer for NBC affiliate WHDH (TV) was banned from reporting and taking pictures at the trial as one of their news trucks had followed the jury van the previous day.

[41] In closing statements, in light of substantial physical evidence provided by the prosecution, the defense admitted to Hernandez being present during the murder, but downplayed his role.

[43] Immediately following the conviction, Hernandez was temporarily transferred to the Massachusetts Correctional Institution – Cedar Junction, a maximum-security intake facility to begin serving his sentence; it is located 1.5 miles from Gillette Stadium, where he formerly played.

After being convicted in the Lloyd murder, Hernandez was accused of the 2012 shooting deaths of Boston residents Daniel Jorge Correia de Abreu and Safiro Teixeira Furtado.

Baez contended an appeal had a strong chance of success, given what he characterized as weaknesses in the prosecution cases that were overlooked by the initial lawyers and Judge Garsh's comments during a bail hearing that Hernandez appeared to be guilty (a possible violation of presumption of innocence).