Blacked-Out Part of Report on Aaron Hernandez Revealed

Inmate alleges former NFL star was smoking K2 prior to his suicide
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 30, 2018 1:27 PM CDT
Blacked-Out Part of Report on Aaron Hernandez Revealed
In this April 14, 2017, file pool photo, former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez turns to look in the direction of the jury as he reacts to his acquittal for the murder in the 2012 deaths of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado.   (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia, Pool, File)

In the wake of Aaron Hernandez's April 19, 2017, death, a 132-page report was made public. One redacted part of that report has now been seen by the Boston Globe, and it's raising some big questions. The portion covers an interview with an inmate who said the former New England Patriot had been using the drug K2 in the run-up to his death. The Globe reports the unredacted text first noted that Hernandez had been "in a great place," since being acquitted of a 2012 double-murder on April 14 and was "even talking about going back to the NFL," per a friend. The report then read, "One of the last inmates interviewed stated 'what do you do when you get good news? You celebrate, right?'" What followed was blacked out. Here it is:

  • "Well he’s spent the last two days smoking K2 in his cell and he wasn’t in the right frame of mind." "That shit is [expletive] all these young kids up." "They aren’t going to stop no matter what happens in here."

A rep for the Massachusetts Department of Correction explained the redaction by saying it was done in order to maintain the integrity of an ongoing investigation into alleged drug activity at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center. But Hernandez's lawyer calls it an act of concealment, and the Globe itself notes it could shed light on Hernandez's state of mind and "raises questions about whether state officials sought to hide the extensive use of contraband drugs by inmates." Hernandez's toxicology report came back negative for synthetic cannabinoids, per State Police, but one toxicologist tells the paper that's not necessarily definitive. "These are so potent, the doses are so low, that when a person takes it you can only measure it in their blood for a short period of time." Read the full Globe story for more on the drug's religion-related side effects. (K2 may have been to blame when 29 people fell ill at an Ohio prison.)

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