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Overview

On June 17, 2013, Odin Lloyd met one of his heroes, New England Patriot tight end Aaron Hernandez, in a Boston club. He left the club with Hernandez and some of Hernandez’s friends. Later that day, the body of the semi-pro football player was found in an industrial park a mile from Hernandez’s home. Two years later, Hernandez was convicted of Lloyd’s murder.

This should have been an open and shut wrongful death case for Lloyd’s mother, Ursula Ward, with a murder conviction in a Massachusetts court. That changed in 2017, however, when Hernandez committed suicide in his jail cell.

This high-profile case involved professional sports, celebrities, murder, suicide, and countless challenging legal issues. Under a principal in Massachusetts law known as abatement ab initio, Hernandez’s conviction was overturned on the grounds that Hernandez could no longer defend himself. Undaunted, Sheff & Cook pushed forward with the wrongful death case seeking compensation for Ward even as Hernandez’s lawyers tried legal maneuvering to avoid paying a civil judgment.

From the Book:

All-American Murder: The Rise and Fall of Aaron Hernandez

By James Patterson & Alex Abramovich

“… Hernandez stood, stoically, throughout his sentencing. He knew the word on Judge Garsh: Remarkably, no case that had come before her had ever been overturned on appeal. He knew that his finances were dwindling: His salary was gone; his lawyers had been expensive; Ursula Ward and her lawyer, Doug Sheff, were still pursuing a wrongful death lawsuit against him.”

“Ursula was one of the best clients I’ve ever had,” said Doug in a Later Interview With Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly (PDF). “Hernandez gets convicted of murder [in the criminal case] and her first words are, ‘I forgive you.’ To have the faith and grace to be able to forgive such a heinous act is a person I was honored to represent.”

The case was resolved with an undisclosed settlement in 2019 to be paid by Hernandez’s estate. Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly cited Senior Partner Doug Sheff’s work on behalf of Odin Lloyd’s family when they named him as a Lawyer of the Year in 2020.

About this case, Doug said, “I continue to love and care for this family. They are wonderful people. We are proud to represent them in anything they need.”