Former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez had a "severe case" of the degenerative brain disease CTE, his lawyer said tests show, and a federal lawsuit has been filed against the NFL and the Patriots on behalf of Hernandez's daughter.
Attorney Jose Baez made the announcement at a press conference on Thursday.
In April, Hernandez was found dead in his jail cell in Shirley, Mass., five days after being acquitted in a double murder trial. Massachusetts State Police investigated Hernandez’s death and ruled it to be a suicide.
Hernandez was serving a life sentence after being convicted of the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd but that conviction was vacated after his suicide because he died before all of his appeals had been heard.