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Comment by nxsynonym | Hacker News Reader

>>Those who died after the settlement was approved in April 2015 are not eligible for an award, but Hernandez’s family could argue for an exemption.

An exemption should only be made if the money goes to the families of the victims.

Why does the family of a murderer get a monetary reward? Even if it is proven the the CTE somehow cause him to commit the murders (which is a long shot), why would his family reap the benefits of the settlement?

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>Why does the family of a murderer get a monetary reward?

Well, for one thing, unlike North Korea, we don't punish people's innocent family members for their crimes.

How is not awarding millions of dollars for no reason a punishment?

If they would otherwise be entitled to the award, then restricting that award is equivalent to punishment by fine of the same degree.

>Why does the family of a murderer get a monetary reward?

He is suggesting even with a settlement, the family shouldn't get any because of what Hernandez' crimes were. Without a will, immediate family is the default recipient of that sort of thing.

Well it wouldn't be "no reason", would it?

Not to mention that (IIRC) several of the murders he's thought to have committed occurred before he'd ever played in the NFL.

It has nothing to do with murder and everything to do with suicide. The family is arguing that CTE caused or contributed to his suicide.

If he wasn't put in jail with a lifetime sentence would he still have committed suicide?

Maybe. Maybe not. There's no was to know his thoughts leading up to the suicide.

For a civil case you don't have to prove it, you just have to be able to convince a jury that it's probably true.

So the Hernandez family's ability to sue should be linked to what kind of person Aaron was? How does that makes sense?

Because his daughter, by being deprived of her father's presence and income, was also hurt by the actions that were quite possibly induced by the CTE he suffered. And while no one can know CTE caused Hernandez to kill people, it is known that CTE causes cognitive impairment, impulsive behavior, and emotional instability; aggression is a suspected symptom [1]. I don't think the idea that CTE made Hernandez' bad behavior more likely and/or more severe is easy to dismiss out of hand.

[1] http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/chronic-trauma...

I'm not sure how employable Aaron was without the NFL.

Other sports perhaps? He really was a phenomenal athlete. His seasons with the patriots really did suggest he'd be an all time great TE.

He could lose a bunch of weight and lose to Floyd Mayweather. :)

Hernandez would never have gotten out of prison, and certainly not while still capable of playing ball professionally. How much could his income possible have been? The argument that he could have been a wealthy pro athlete without suffering CTE if only the NFL had done things differently, seems to contradict itself in several ways.

I don't think it's about if CTE caused him to commit the murders, it's about if CTE caused him to commit suicide. Since CTA can only be diagnosed posthumously, I can see the argument that he had CTE before 2015 but was not properly diagnosed despite the clear risk of CTE to NFL players.

I see your point, unfortunately it will be hard to parse what the extent of the CTE was and how it affected him in combination with the results of his trial.

I just know that if I were in the shoes of the victims families, it would be crushing to see the family of the murderer walk away with a payout.

I agree, it's a difficult argument but I think regardless of Hernandez's guilt it's clear that the NFL has not done enough about CTE.

As for his family, I don't see why his family should not be compensated by the NFL for his CTE, regardless of his crimes. If my scumbag family member was killed because of negligence by their employer, I would still want their employer to compensate our family... two wrongs don't make a right, and we should still hold the NFL accountable.

> Why does the family of a murderer get a monetary reward? Even if it is proven the the CTE somehow cause him to commit the murders (which is a long shot), why would his family reap the benefits of the settlement?

Because the NFL is the murderer. Aaron was made ill by them to the extent he is not responsible for his actions. This is before you even get to the suicide.

They mean to raise the concern of the family receiving that money, instead of the state or a CTE research group, for example.

Good questions. The NFL has enough money for everyone affected.

How is the NFL responsible for those murders?

He didn't start in the NFL until 2010, after he had already been involved in a double shooting and bar fight.

Also, there is no direct evidence that CTE leads to murdering people.

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