The mother of murder victim Odin Lloyd offered forgiveness to her son's killers on Wednesday.
A jury found former NFL player Aaron Hernandez guilty of the first-degree murder of Lloyd, and he received a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Lloyd's mother, Ursula Ward, cried and pumped her fist in the air during the verdict. Grace was exhibited in her remarks during Hernandez's sentencing.
"I forgive the hands of the people that had a hand in my son's murder, either before or after," she said. "And I pray and hope that someday, everyone up there will forgive them also."
Hernandez, 25, was convicted of killing Lloyd, 27, on June 17, 2013 in an industrial park near Hernandez's home in North Attleboro, Massachussets.
Defense attorneys maintained that Hernandez's friends, Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace, carried out the murder, and Hernandez merely witnessed the crime.
Prosecutors believe Lloyd was killed because of his knowledge of Hernandez's alleged involvement in a double murder in Boston in 2012.
Hernandez was indicted last year for a drive-by shooting on July 16, 2012 that killed Daniel Abreu and Safiro Furtado. Three other men were inside the car with the victims, and one of the survivors identified Hernandez as the trigger man.
"They just came up and started firing for no reason at all," he told Fox 25. "We never had any trouble. We were not those kind of people. We were just having fun.
"Things happened so fast. I was trying to defend myself. They were shooting everywhere inside the car, front to back. They just came to kill. That's it.
"I just want to know, what's the reason? What's the point? Why us?"
Allegedly, the drive-by occurred over a drink spilled inside a nightclub. The Boston trial was scheduled to begin in May, but officials say it will be delayed.
