Aaron Hernandez's Attorneys to Seek to Vacate 2015 Murder Conviction After Death

Following his suicide, Aaron Hernandez's lawyers will seek to have his 2015 first-degree murder conviction vacated.

According to Bob McGovern of the Boston Herald, attorney John M. Thompson intends to pursue the matter: "I was doing research this morning. The first thing we have to do is get a death certificate. Once we have the official documentation, we will file the motion and see whether it's contested."

Per ESPN.com, Hernandez was found in his prison cell early Wednesday morning and pronounced dead shortly thereafter.

Per McGovern, former Supreme Judicial Court Justice John Greaney explained the grounds on which the conviction could be vacated: "It goes way back to the early days of common law: Until your conviction is final, you haven't been considered convicted. If you die before you are brought to trial or before the appeal is concluded, the murder indictment is dismissed and the guilty verdict is vacated."

Hernandez was convicted of murder in the 2013 shooting death of former semi-professional football player Odin Lloyd.

He was serving a life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole.

Hernandez was found not guilty of the 2012 murders of Safiro Furtado and Daniel de Abreu last week.