man that seems weird to me...how much money are we talking about?
I'm not 100% sure. Obviously the lack of a technical criminal conviction doesn't shield his estate from civil charges from victim's families but pensions generally are not touchable.
The Patriots withheld $3.25 million of his signing bonus and $2.5 million of his guaranteed base salary. They withheld it because per the CBA, they have the right if he is convicted of a crime. If his convictions are vacated, the families lawyers will ask that the money be reinstated.
This will end with a settlement somewhere less than that $5 million number, but probably more than $1m.