To my knowledge it hadn’t be adjudicated, but it was in the process for almost 2 years. How far along in that process, I do not know. But he was given the opportunity to appeal. The fact that the appeal hadn’t been adjudicated is not sufficient for abatement. As well, if he failed to appeal with x days of his conviction (i think the standard is 30) there would be no appeal, since his appeal was in process means he had sufficient time to appeal considering his conviction was in June of 2015.
If the state appeal overturned the conviction, which means a new trial most of the time, and Hernandez died the next day, are you saying Hernandez is still guilty?
How is that possible since Hernandez is dead and can't be re-tried?
Or, if the state appeal confirms the guilty verdict, and Hernandez dies the next day, most likely his case would have gone to the federal level, which might have thrown out the conviction.
This the first time I've thought about this issue, but it looks to me like Hernandez has caught the game winning legal touchdown pass against the Patriots and against the people who might have sued him for civil damages.