The New England Patriots have been named as co-defendants in a wrongful death suit filed against Aaron Hernandez that seeks to keep the team from paying him the more than $3 million in bonuses still owed to him until their civil suit has been resolved.
Attorney William Kennedy also named parent company Kraft Enterprises LLC as a defendant in a suit that overall seeks $6 million in damages on behalf of the estates of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado, both of whom were gunned down in an early-morning drive-by shooting outside a downtown Boston nightclub in July of 2012.
Police have fingered the 24-year-old Hernandez as the triggerman in the shooting and indicate the incident was sparked after one of the men accidentally spilled a drink on the former tight end and failed to apologize.
Days before he inked a five-year, $40 million extension with the Patriots, prosecutors allege Hernandez ambushed both unsuspecting victims as they sat at a traffic stoplight. Kennedy has also moved to have all of Hernandez’s assets frozen, including the North Attleborough mansion where he lived until being taken into custody on an unrelated first-degree murder charge about a year later.
“We are seeking to have the families who have been victimized by these deaths have some assets set aside that they may be somehow compensated,” Kennedy wrote in an affidavit filed with the court that seeks $3 million for the family of each victim. “The two young men in our case both supported their mothers with their modest earnings. That support and emotional attachment has been lost forever.”
Meanwhile, Hernandez remains jailed and held without bail in the June 2013 execution style slaying of one-time associate Odin Lloyd. Authorities have hinted they suspect Hernandez may have killed Lloyd based on his knowledge about other violent crimes he is alleged to have been involved in.
Similar legal actions were also taken in a lawsuit by Lloyd’s family and the Patriots have agreed to make the court overseeing that case aware before paying any more money to the former Florida star.
The NFL Players Association has filed a grievance on Hernandez’s behalf seeking to force the team to pay him a $3.25 million salary bonus.
