( CNN ) We want our killers to be kind . To walk into court and show remorse , tell us that they are really nice people who only did it because they feared for their lives , or they were temporarily insane . Even though those things may not be true , too often they are accepted as legitimate excuses for murder . Well , Aaron Hernandez , the former New England Patriots tight end and now convicted murderer , made none of those excuses . He walked into court with an air of bravado , his head held high like the $ 40 million , NFL superstar he was just a couple of years ago . Several times he was even caught winking at his fiancee , Shayanna Jenkins , during the trial . And we did n't like his swagger . Hernandez did n't offer a plausible alibi . He did n't look ashamed or remorseful . He never wept . His own attorney , James Sultan , admitted that Hernandez `` witnessed '' the killing of Odin Lloyd , `` committed by somebody he knew , '' but said his client did not commit the crime . Even before the guilty verdict came down Wednesday , for many -- at least those covering the trial -- audacity seemed to be the defendant 's biggest crime . `` The Arrogance of Aaron Hernandez , '' a New Yorker headline accused . I do n't get it . What does it matter that Hernandez was arrogant in court , or walked with too much swagger , or even smiled at his girl ? Like it or not , that is who he is . The evidence is what matters . And for once , this time it appears the jury carefully considered the damning mountain of circumstantial evidence against this defendant and came to the right decision : guilty of first-degree murder in the 2013 slaying of Odin Lloyd . Hernandez , 25 , was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole . He was also found guilty of unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition . It was the right decision . Still , it 's hard not to feel sadness over such a senseless waste of life for both Lloyd and now Hernandez , who were once friends . Football was the best thing Hernandez ever had , especially after he father died suddenly after a routine hernia surgery in 2006 . Hernandez was 16 . After that his life got complicated . At 17 , Hernandez went off to the University of Florida and seemed headed for greatness . There he won the John Mackey Award as the nation 's best tight end and led the team in receiving during its 2009 Bowl Championship Series win . But off the field , his life was to beginning to unravel . Trouble started : bar fights , reports of marijuana use and failed drug tests . He was even questioned in relation to a shooting after a fight at a Gainesville , Florida , nightclub . By the time he was drafted in 2010 by the New England Patriots , Hernandez had already been labeled a `` troubled player . '' But neither the Patriots nor the NFL has anything to be ashamed of in how they handled the Hernandez case . They did everything right this time . Hours after Hernandez was charged with murder , he was let go from the team . And his coaches did n't spend any time trying to convince the public that their star tight end was a decent , family-loving guy , as the league has done too many times in the past when its players got in trouble . This time justice worked . There 's no reason to second-guess what went wrong , to ask `` How could a star NFLer be a murderer ? '' The NFL for the most part does a great job vetting its players , and certainly Hernandez is an anomaly in the league , where despite the ugly headlines , the overwhelming majority of players are upstanding , law-abiding citizens . And Patriots bashers ( me included ) would be mistaken to try to find fault with the team for drafting Hernandez despite his troubled past . No one really knows what evil lurks in the hearts of others , even those closest to us . Not the mothers whose sons go off and commit schoolyard killing sprees , or wives whose husbands gun down innocent people , and certainly not employers who are mostly concerned about performance on the job . There was no way to predict Hernandez would end up a murderer . He was a guy who had all the talent and opportunity in the world , but he still went wrong . Hernandez himself may have explained it best as he was being taken out of the courtroom : . According to a law enforcement source close to the case , Hernandez told officers escorting him , `` 'Hey man , I 'm going to miss you guys . ... I do n't need any luck any more . ' He gave you the impression , 'It 's kinda like no big deal . ... It is what it is . ' ``
Roxanne Jones : Jury right to find Hernandez guilty , but the waste of life for player and his victim is tragic . She says Patriots , NFL knew his troubled past , but could not have predicted his actions , and both handled case well .