Aaron Hernandez -- Guilty of 1st degree murder

Thanks, Obama.

 

I'm with you on the reasonable doubt. But that doesn't mean the jury was wrong. They heard all the evidence and had a different opinion than we did. And they spent several days coming to this decision. I did not expect him to be convicted, but the fact that he was placed at the scene and has not said who did it are big factors.

 

ESPN's Lester Munson had a pretty good breakdown for the uninitiated: Aaron Hernandez prosecutors score enormous triumph with murder conviction

Basically, it seemed to boil down to the prosecution doing a good job of explaining (not covering up, but filling in the gaps) the holes in their case; the jurors thinking Hernandez was full of shit; and his lawyers doing a piss-poor job. The defense attorney admitting Hernandez was at the scene was the last nail in his coffin. The prosecution did things like calling Nike and Glock executives as witnesses to show what key pieces of evidence looked like and how they were unique.

 

The Perfect Terrible Aaron Hernandez Hot Take Has Arrived: The Q: GQ

 

Yep, that's quite terrible. And very Bostonian.

 

Someone should start a Hottest Takes Of 2015 thread.

That one is going to be tough to beat.

 

1st degree in Mass is indeed automatic mandatory LWOP. 2nd degree brings the possibility (but not likelihood) of parole after 15 years. Of course, there's also no death penalty here. Tsarnaev, for example, is only eligible for the death penalty because he was convicted in USDC on federal charges that carry the death penalty. It's also my understanding that a number of death penalty states don't have LWOP as an alternative.

 

I like to believe I'm reasonably intelligent, although I concede there are subjects where I'm woefully out of my depth. Mathematics. Economics. Certain complexities of foreign relations. Physics and chemistry, etc. Yet it never ceases to amuse or amaze me how fucking stupid otherwise brilliant people can be when they talk about sports. I mean, that dude is a Harvard professor with more degrees than I have limbs, and yet he penned that garbage. It's like watching someone who could describe in great detail the physics involved with space flight, but couldn't figure out how to buckle his seat belt once he climbed aboard the space shuttle.

 

Go find some of Jonathan Chait's posts about Michael Rosenberg, if they are still floating around out there, DD.

 

I'm good at math!

 

Sports brings out the stupid in a lot of people.

 

Most notably sports writers.