BOSTON — Aaron Hernandez’s death was ruled a suicide Thursday by Massachusetts officials, who also said that his brain would be released to an academic centre that has researched the links between brain disease and football. Jose Baez, a lawyer who had represented Hernandez, called a news conference Thursday in front of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and accused the state of “illegally” withholding Hernandez’s brain. By donating Hernandez’s brain, his family could be seeking to find if he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a degenerative brain disease linked to repeated head trauma that has been found in about 100 former NFL players. Related“We had made arrangements for Boston University to come at 10 a.m. to pick up Aaron’s brain,” Baez said, but he added that the medical examiner’s office had decided “at the last minute” to hold it longer. Baez said he hoped the study of Hernandez’s brain would help add to the body of knowledge about CTE and shed new light on what exactly happened to him.

Source: National Post April 21, 2017 13:18 UTC