Convicted murderer of former Saints player seeks new trial
19th November 2018 · 0 Comments
Cardell Hayes, the man convicted for the 2016 slaying of former New Orleans Saints defensive end Will Smith after a road-rage incident in the city’s Garden District, is seeking a new trial.
The fatal shooting, which occurred when Smith was visiting New Orleans to attend the annual French Quarter Festival, was one of two fatal road-rage incidents that calmed the lives of former NFL players. The other involved Joe McKnight, the former John Curtis and USC standout, who played for the New York Jets. He was fatally shot after reportedly cutting off Ronald Gasser, 55, on the Crescent City Connection on Dec. 1, 2016. The case took on a racial undertone when Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand waited three days to arrest Gasser, who is white. McKnight was Black.
Gasser, who claimed he was defending himself when he shot McKnight, is also appealing his conviction.
Hayes was ultimately convicted of manslaughter in the death of Will Smith and attempted manslaughter of the athlete’s wife, Racquel, on April 9, 2016. Hayes is currently serving a 25-year sentence.
Hayes, who didn’t know Will Smith reportedly followed the former NFL player from a restaurant to another section of the Lower Garden District after Smith’s car reported tapped the bumper of Hayes’ car. After Hayes’ car made contact with the back of Smith’s car, an argument ensued and shots were fired.
An attorney for Hayes told a three-judge panel of the Louisiana 4th Circuit Court of Appeals that the firmer NFL player fired his gun first and attributed the injury Racquel Smith sustained to gunfire from her husband.
Hayes insisted he shot Smith in self-defense after Smith grabbed a gun and fired as the two argued following a 2016 traffic collision. No one else testified Smith held a gun. A semiautomatic handgun was found loaded but unused in Smith’s car.
Hayes’s attorneys say a judge should have granted a new trial because a witness who contacted the defense a day after Hayes’ conviction said he had heard two guns at the time of the shooting.
The Associated Press reported that the appeal filed in February by attorney Paul Barker also contends the trial judge, Camille Buras, should have allowed testimony about Smith’s 2010 arrest on a domestic abuse charge. Smith was arrested outside a southwest Louisiana bar in 2011 on misdemeanor charges of domestic abuse battery and public intoxication. Lafayette Parish prosecutors dropped the charges in 2012 after Smith completed community service and participated in counseling
Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro issued a statement after the appeal was filed, saying Hayes’ guilt was proven beyond a reasonable doubt and that Buras managed the trial well.
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 hit in 2005. He helped carry the team to a winning season in 2006 and a Super Bowl victory four years later.
Hayes was 29 when he was convicted in December 2016. He owned a tow-truck business, had played semi-pro football and is the father of a young son.
The three judge panel is comprised of Judges Joy Cossich Lobrano, Sandra Cabrina Jenkins and Terri F. Love.
A ruling by the panel on Hayes’ appeal is expected to take several weeks.
This article originally published in the November 19, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
