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New Orleans Saints defensive finish Will Smith (pictured chatting with the press on Media Day at Solar Life Stadium in Miami in 2010) was killed in 2016. Cardell Hayes was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in jail for the killing of Smith throughout a highway rage incident that 12 months. File Photograph by Roger L. Wollenberg/UPI | License Photo
April 25 (UPI) — The person who was convicted in January of killing New Orleans Saints defensive finish Will Smith was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in jail for manslaughter.
Cardell Hayes, who already has spent 5 years behind bars, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for manslaughter, with credit score for time served, which totals to eight years.
He must serve 13 years with the credited time earlier than he might be thought of eligible for parole. He beforehand confronted as much as 40 years for the costs.
A jury in January discovered him responsible of manslaughter with a firearm and never responsible on depend of tried manslaughter of Smith’s spouse, Racquel, who was injured within the capturing.
It was the second time Hayes confronted trial within the case after he was granted a retrial beneath Louisiana’s unanimous jury legislation.
A jury in 2016 voted to convict him in a 10-2 verdict. The Supreme Court in 2020 dominated non-unanimous jury choices unconstitutional, making Hayes and different defendants in trials with non-unanimous verdicts eligible for an additional trial.
Witnesses testified that, in 2016, Hayes slammed his car into Smith after Smith had ran into Hayes. The 2 males exited their automobiles and confronted one another. At one level, Smith returned to his car, and Hayes shot Smith eight instances within the again and aspect.
Racquel Smith was struck within the leg by a bullet.
Smith, who was 34 when he was killed, performed defensive finish for the Saints from 2004 to 2013, serving to them win the Tremendous Bowl by a 31-17 rating over the Indianapolis Colts in 2010.
The Saints posthumously inducted Smith into its Corridor of Fame in 2016 and Saints Ring of Honor in 2019.
