NEW ORLEANS– A man who shot former New Orleans Saints star Will Smith after a traffic accident nearly eight years ago has been convicted of manslaughter.
The jury deliberated for more than four hours and reached a verdict just after midnight on Saturday in the retrial of Cardell Hayes, news media reported. He faces a prison sentence of up to 40 years.
The jury acquitted Hayes of attempted manslaughter in the shooting and wounding of Smith’s wife during the April 2016 confrontation.
Hayes, 36, was previously convicted in December 2016 of manslaughter in Smith’s death and attempted manslaughter for the gunshot wound to Racquel Smith. But the jury voted 10-2 and the conviction was thrown out after the U.S. Supreme Court banned non-unanimous verdicts. Hayes was released on bail after serving more than four years of a 25-year prison sentence.
His retrial was postponed for several reasons, including the closure of courts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prosecutors dropped their case against Hayes on Friday and the defense opted not to call any witnesses after that.
The city’s top prosecutor emphasized during his closing arguments that Hayes fired unnecessarily.
“One gun was fired by one man,” said prosecutor Jason Williams, as he held Hayes’ evidence-marked gun in the air and hit Smith eight times — seven in the back — as well as Smith’s wife in the legs hit.
Defense attorney John Fuller maintained that prosecutors had not proven that Hayes did not act in self-defense. Fuller pointed to a recording of a 911 call shortly after the shooting, in which Hayes can be heard in the background claiming that Smith stated he intended to get a gun from his car.
Fuller tried to refute prosecutors’ claims that Racquel Smith had calmed down her husband by the time Hayes opened fire.
“You don’t say, ‘Calm down, it’s not worth it,’ when you don’t have to say, ‘Calm down, it’s not worth it,’” he said, referring to the prosecution’s testimony about Racquel’s attempts to defuse the argument to make.
Evidence showed Will Smith was intoxicated at the time of the confrontation. But there was no witness or forensic evidence to support Hayes’ claim that Smith had handled or fired a weapon.
Smith, a 34-year-old father of three, was a defensive leader on the Saints team that lifted spirits in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city in 2005. He helped the team to a winning season in 2006 and a 2010 Super Bowl victory.
Hayes, who owned a tow truck company, once played semi-pro. He has one son.