NEW ORLEANS — Cardell Hayes has been found guilty of manslaughter in the killing of former Saints star Will Smith in 2016.
A jury reached the verdict shortly after midnight Saturday following several hours of deliberations. Hayes was found not guilty of the attempted manslaughter of Smith's wife Racquel.
"I gave everything in pursuit of justice on behalf of Will," said Racquel Smith, in a statement released following the trial. "All we have ever wanted was for Mr. Hayes to take accountability for his actions, and we hope that through this verdict, we are one step closer to that becoming a reality."
Defense attorneys said they would appeal the decision and they said Hayes wasn't called to testify in his own defense because they believed the prosecution hadn't met the burden of proof that he didn't fear for his life in the altercation.
"It’s especially heartbreaking in this case, having gotten to know Cardell Hayes, having gotten to know him as a father, to know his family and to see the community that he has that supports him," said defense attorney Sarah Chervinsky.
Hayes will be sentenced by Judge Camille Buras in late March.
WWL Louisiana legal analyst Craig Mordock said he expects she will hand down a sentence similar to the one she handed out in 2016.
"I would expect the judge, when it comes to sentencing, to sentence in about the same range that she did in the first trial, which was 25 years. She's just going to say that nothing has really changed and there's no reason to upset my original sentence."
It is the second time Hayes has been found guilty in the killing. A jury previously voted to convict him in December, 2016 but that verdict was 10-2. A few years after that killing, non-unanimous jury decisions were ruled unconstitutional in Louisiana and Hayes, along with defendants in other trials with non-unanimous verdicts, were given shots at another trial.
The verdict came after the final day of testimony Friday.
The prosecution in the Cardell Hayes retrial rested after calling about 10 witnesses.
In a surprise move, Hayes’ attorneys also rested without calling any additional witnesses to the stand.
Earlier, they called a witness out of order, a former waitress who heard the crash and gunshots, then went to the scene the night of the shooting.
Friday, during closing arguments, prosecutor Matthew Derbes told the jury of 8 women and 4 men, “This is not the kind of case where you are asked to decide Mr. Hayes is the person who shot and killed Mr. Smith."
“(You have to decide) whether the defendant was justified when he shot Raquel Smith and shot Will Smith, over and over and over again,” Derbes added.”
Attorney John Fuller gave the closing for Hayes.
He started off by telling the jury, “What has us here was a terrible tragedy.”
Fuller then reminded the jury that it is up to prosecutors to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Throughout the trial the defense claimed that Hayes shot Smith in self-defense.
“They want you to believe he was enraged with Racquel he was enraged with Will Smith, and he decided to shoot them,” Fuller said. “On April 9, 2016, this man (pointing to Hayes) did have a reasonable fear that his life was in danger.”
“This ain’t a game,” he added. “This is about the truth.”
Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams gave the rebuttal.
He came out yelling, “What was I supposed to do, don’t bring a gun out at a crash scene. Don’t shoot every bullet you have except one into a man’s back.”
“He (Hayes) did a bad thing with this gun, over and over again.”
The big question going into the trial is would Hayes take the stand as he did in the first trial in 2016.
That’s when he was convicted of manslaughter and attempted manslaughter.
He served four years of a 25-year sentence when he was granted a new trial and released from prison in 2021 after the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed non-unanimous jury verdicts.
The defense chose not to put Hayes on as a witness this time around.
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