The 29-year-old owner of a tow-truck business could be sentenced to 60 years for fatally shooting Smith and wounding Smith's wife in a confrontation after a traffic crash last year.
Kevin O'Neal, a passenger who was in the vehicle with Cardell Hayes the night New Orleans Saints star Will Smith was killed, enters the Orleans Parish criminal courthouse for a sentencing hearing for Hayes, who was convicted of manslaughter in the shooting death of Smith, in New Orleans, Wednesday, April 19, 2017.
District Judge Camille Buras handed down the sentence after a two-day sentencing hearing and gripping testimony from the families and friends of both Will and Racquel Smith and Cardell Hayes.
Cardell Hayes - the man that shot and killed retired Saints defensive end Will Smith and injured his wife, Racquel Smith - was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison.
According to the Associated Press, Hayes said he was acting in self-defense, and that Smith had pointed a gun at him.
He had faced up to 60 years if the maximum sentences were to be served consecutively.
Hayes' lawyer John Fuller defended the 25-year sentence outside of court, ESPN reports.
A spokesman for district attorney Leon Canizzaro's office said the D.A. and the Smith family are disappointed in the length of the sentence.
"This ordeal has been a nightmare for me and my family", she continued. "There are no winners here today", her statement said. Three children have lost their father. "I never said negative things about your family", Hayes said.
Hayes' mother, his girlfriend and Hayes himself spoke Thursday before the judge made her ruling. A day earlier, Racquel Smith said all she ever wanted was for Hayes to tell her he was sorry for what happened.
8 soldiers die in Taliban attack in north Afghanistan
An Afghan soldier who heard the gunfire said: 'I asked my friend what was happening, and he said, "Relax, it must be one of us". A provincial political leader, reached by phone, said that at one point during the battle, the base had run out of coffins.
Hayes insisted at trial that it was self-defense.
Will Smith celebrates during a game against Arizona on January 16, 2010 during a playoff game at the Superdome in New Orleans.
Hayes' mother, Dawn Mumphrey, later took the stand.
"That's my baby", she cried. "I know you're saying I'm still here for my kid, but I'm really not here for mine, either". She also noted the enormous emotion surrounding this case, which lasted roughly one year from Hayes' original indictment.
Among those who took the stand in Hayes' defense was Dennis Martin, his former football coach at Warren Easton High school. That's the most offensive part of this entire process, " Rodrigue added. He was credited with helping the team lift the city's spirits after Hurricane Katrina and also helped lead the Saints to a Super Bowl victory in 2010. Payton testified Wednesday that had Smith survived, he would have hired him as an assistant.
Hayes was convicted of the crimes in December.
Smith, 34, was gunned down following an apparent road rage dispute in New Orleans in April of a year ago. They were among a group of friends in several cars.
Surveillance footage from the scene appeared to show Smith's Mercedes SUV bump the rear of Hayes' Hummer before speeding off. Moments later, according to authorities, Hayes' Hummer hit the rear of Smith's vehicle, causing it to crash into a third auto.
"That's what I fear most for my son, not to be there for him", Hayes said, then dissolved into tears and stammered out: "I'm not really there for my son".
Hayes claimed self-defense, but no other witness or evidence supported his belief that Smith was firing at him. Smith's gun was found in his auto, loaded but unused. His wife was hit in the legs.
Comments