Aaron Hernandez’s suicide notes must be released to his family, a judge ruled on Monday.
The former New England Patriots tight end left three suicide notes behind when he hanged himself in his prison cell on Wednesday. The three notes are each alleged to be written for Hernandez’s fiancee (Shayanna Jenkins), his daughter and a rumored prison lover.
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Jenkins requested the notes be released to her, and Judge Thomas F. McGuire Jr. of Bristol Superior Court ruled the documents be released.
“The family has the right, during this grieving process, to know their loved one’s final thoughts,” said attorney George Leontire, who represents Hernandez.
The notes will be redacted if any information in the letters will affect the investigation into his suicide, according to the New York Times.
The ruling came hours before Hernandez was laid to rest at a private funeral in Bristol, Connecticut.
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This is just the latest legal development tied to Hernandez’s suicide last week while serving a life conviction for the murder of Odin Lloyd.
Jenkins is suing the Massachusetts Department of Corrections to ensure no evidence related to the suicide is destroyed. The family wants an investigation into the incident, which some allege was murder, not suicide.
There was also an odd dispute over Hernandez’s brain. The family demanded the former NFL player’s brain be donated to CTE studies. However, the medical examiner would not release the organ.
Hernandez was found in his prison cell, hanged with a bed sheet. The cell door was blocked with to cardboard prevent guards from getting in easily. Hernandez also soaped up the floor of the cell, presumably to prevent himself from backing out of the suicide.
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