Aaron Hernandez's Fiancee Sues NFL, Patriots Amid CTE Diagnosis
Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez, who was engaged to former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, has filed a lawsuit against the Patriots and the NFL in the midst of Hernandez's diagnosis of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
According to the lawsuit—obtained by CNN and provided to Bleacher Report—Hernandez was diagnosed with Stage III CTE, which is typically seen in deceased players with a median age of 67.
The Boston Herald's Bob McGovern shared two pages from the lawsuit:
McGovern also noted the family was seeking $20 million in damages.
Jose Baez, a lawyer who represented Hernandez, said researchers described Hernandez as having "the most severe case they had ever seen in someone of Aaron's age," per the New York Times' Ken Belson.
In April 2015, a jury found Hernandez guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Odin Lloyd, a ruling that carried a mandatory life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole.
Shortly after he was found not guilty on double-murder charges in April, Hernandez's body was found in his prison cell in an apparent suicide. Jenkins-Hernandez told Dr. Phil McGraw during a television interview in May that she didn't believe Hernandez killed himself.
The Massachusetts medical examiner's office in May announced it was giving Hernandez's brain to his family, who wanted Boston University researchers to examine it for signs of CTE.
Researchers from the university announced in July the results from a study of 202 brains of former football players of varying levels. All but one of the 111 brains of former NFL players showed CTE.
