Image via Complex Original
At approximately 10:30 a.m. today, a jury found former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez guilty of first degree murder. It wasn't a total shock, seeing as how the prosecution made a strong case against him during his trial. But because the jury took more than 35 hours to deliberate the verdict, the thought was that Hernandez might get off or, at most, be found guilty of second degree murder, which would have allowed him to seek parole in 15 years. But he was found guilty of the most serious charge possible and will likely spend the rest of his life in prison, barring a successful appeal of the jury's verdict.
Despite the extremely serious nature of Hernandez's crime, Twitter went into overdrive at approximately 10:35 a.m. and, as usual, provided plenty of great (and not so great!) reactions to the guilty verdict. From jokes about the way the NFL is going to respond to the verdict—a four-game suspension for murder? Hardy har har—to more Ray Lewis mentions than we could count, Twitter provided a running commentary for the aftermath of Hernandez's verdict and helped "Aaron Hernandez" climb to the top of the "United States Trends" list, where it's probably going to stay for rest of the day. Here are The Best and Worst Twitter Reactions to Aaron Hernandez's Guilty Verdict.