Jury finds man guilty of manslaughter in 2016 killing of former Saints defensive end Will Smith

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A New Orleans jury deliberate for more than four hours before returning a guilty verdict early Saturday morning in the deadly shooting of former Saints defensive end Will Smith. 

Cardell Hayes was convicted of manslaughter for a second time after Smith was shot following a dispute over a vehicle crash in April 2016. Smith was driving an SUV at the time of the traffic incident. A verbal altercation began over whether Smith's vehicle had hit Hayes' Hummer along Magazine Street in New Orleans.

Hayes could now face up to four decades following the jury's decision in the retrial of the nearly eight-year-old case. A jury convicted Hayes of manslaughter in December 2016 in Smith’s death and attempted manslaughter for wounding Smith's wife, Racquel Smith. Hayes, 36, did not take the stand to testify under oath in the latest trial.

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Cardell Hayes walks into the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court for his retrial in New Orleans on Friday, January 26, 2024.  Hayes, who shot former New Orleans Saints star Will Smith following a traffic crash nearly eight years ago, has been convicted of manslaughter. (David Grunfeld/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

The jury vote was 10-2, at a time when Louisiana law only required 10 jurors to agree, but the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed nonunanimous verdicts. Hayes was released on bond after having served more than four years of a 25-year sentence.

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Various circumstances, including court closure during the COVID-19 pandemic, led to retrial delays. On Friday, prosecutors rested their case