New Video Shows The Moments Before Ex-NFL Star Will Smith Was Fatally Shot
Cardell Hayes was found guilty of manslaughter Sunday night for the shooting and killing of former Saints defensive end Will Smith on April 9 in New Orleans.
Manslaughter carries a sentence of up to 40 years in the state of Louisiana, with a minimum of 20 years. hayes was also found guilty of attempted manslaughter for the shooting of Smiths wife, Racquel Smith, in both of her legs.
The verdict came at the end of a much-delayed trial. Hayes was charged with second-degree murder, which could have meant a life sentence. The sentencing date is tentatively set for Feb. 17.
The shooting stemmed from a traffic incident in which Smith and Hayes reportedly got in an argument. Hayes shot Smith eight times seven times in the back. Hayess attorneys argued that he was acting in self defense.
The trial brought out testimony from many of Smiths former teammates. Saints head coach Sean Payton was in the courtroom for the verdict after landing in New Orleans from the Saints road game in Tampa Bay earlier in the day.
Because of the late hour of the outcome, the District Attorneys office will hold a press conference Monday morning to discuss the verdict.
Danny Monteverde / Eyewitness News , WWL 7:09 AM. CST December 12, 2016
(Photo: Art by Tony O. Champagne exclusive to WWL-TV)
NEW ORLEANS -- An Orleans Parish jury on Sunday night found Cardell Hayes guilty of manslaughter in the shooting death of Will Smith.
Hayes, who stood still and stared straight ahead during the verdict, was also found guilty of attempted manslaughter in the shooting of Will Smith"s wife, Racquel, who could be heard weeping in the courtroom after the verdict was read.
Hayes was found not guilty of the third count of criminal damage to property for the crash that. The verdicts were not unanimous -- 10-2 on both guilty verdicts -- and unanimous on the not guilty verdict.
He faces up to 40 years in prison for the manslaughter charge. He will be sentenced on Feb. 17.
Deputies placed Hayes in handcuffs after the verdict as friends and family began to cry. Bounce artist Big Freedia, a cousin of Hayes, had her head in her hands.
Current Saints head coach Sean Payton was in the courtroom as the verdict was read, and former Saints running back Pierre Thomas was also there.
Deuce McAllister, also a former Saints player, said outside the courthouse, "It"s not a win for anybody. It was a tough situation. There was no way either side could win."
The prosecution attorneys didn"t speak to the media after the verdict. The Orleans Parish District Attorney"s Office releases a statement, saying, "The District Attorney is gratified by the verdict. He believes that it was victory for the Smith family as well as the citizens of of New Orleans."
Cardell Hayes attorney John Fuller said, "I respect the jury"s verdict, and I respect the pain both families are feeling tonight."
The jury handed up their decision5hours after Orleans Parish Criminal District Judge Camille Buras sent the four men and eight women to deliberate at 4:53 p.m.
The decision came after hearing almost five hours of closing arguments and a rebuttal from Assistant District Attorneys Jason Napoli and Laura Rodrigue, and defense attorney John Fuller.
Both sides reiterated their cases as the seven-day trial nears its end: the state arguing Hayes needlessly shot a defenseless man, while the defense said Hayes saved his own life after an enraged Will Smith went for a gun.
Rodrigue, in her 52-minute rebuttal to Fuller"s nearly three-and-a-half hour closing argument, noted that Hayes"s claim of self-defense doesn"t stand since he rammed his Hummer into Smith"s SUV intentionally and that Hayes got out of his vehicle with a gun.
Napoli told the jury hayes should be found guilty of all three charges he faces, including second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder for Racquel Smith"s injuries to her legs.
"A man is dead. A man is dead with seven bullets in his back," Napoli told the jury during the first part of his closing arguments, which lasted 52 minutes. "This is cold blooded murder on our streets."
"Things were happening so fast, as every witness testified so far, that split-second decisions had to be made," Fuller told the jury. "We still don"t have a clue as to what all of them were going through that night."
Fuller, who spoke for almost four hours, didn"t directly speak to Hayes"s Hayes"s testimony from the day before that Smith fired first and Hayes"s denial he shot Racquel Smith until the tail-end of his closing.
Fuller finally reiterated what Hayes said on the stand and claimed Richard Hernandez, one of Smith"s passengers that night, was the instigator.
He argued it"s not known if a bullet from the gun Hayes fired or another hit Racquel Smith.
The state has repeatedly asserted that no ballistics evidence or testimony outside of what Hayes said supports such a theory.
Fuller called Hernandez "that chump who got on the stand."
"Hernandez is a coward!" he shouted, noting that Hernandez fled the scene after he ripped off his shirt in an act of aggression.
"Hayes can look at you and lie with a smile on his face," Napoli told the jury during his closing argument.
Those was among the various conflicting accounts of what happened during the shooting.
Napoli accused the defense of calling Racquel Smith "a liar." He said that everything she testified on Tuesday was backed up by evidence.
But Fuller said that the number of casings and bullets the state said were found on the scene weren"t adding up. "And you want to call this young man a liar?" he said.
Fuller told the jury they need to reach their verdict based on facts presented during the trial and not emotion.
"The lies are done. Will Smith played defense for this city," Napoli said. "He was defenseless that night. Now it"s your turn to play defense for him."
"Cardell acted in self-defense. He is not guilty," Fuller said. "You"ve got to make some tough decisions. The proper decision is not-guilty on all counts."
Rodrigue, whose voice rose as she continued her rebuttal, said Hayes "pumped garbage into this courtroom" when he took the stand.
"You know what this case is about? Stupidity," she said, her voice almost shrieking.
Hayes based his whole defense on trying to avoid saying "I got really p****d off any killed someone."
New Orleans Advocate reporter Ramon Antonio Vargas contributed to this report.
New Video Shows The Moments Before Ex-NFL Star Will Smith Was Fatally Shot
After the jury deliberated for nearly six hours,Cardell Hayeswas found guilty Sunday (Dec. 11) of manslaughter in the fatal shooting ofWill Smith. Here are five things learned from the final day:
1. Lawyers" animus takes center stage
The bitter feud between defense attorney John Fuller and District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro"s office dominated a large portion of Fuller"s closing argument. With the DA watching from the front row of the gallery, Fuller accused his office of a pattern of misconduct and accused prosecutors Jason Napoli and Laura Rodrigue of "cheating."
"I recently paid them a compliment, saying they are both really good trial lawyers and they don"t have to do that stuff," Fuller said, referencing a pretrial interview with NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune reported hereand here. "Great lawyers don"t have to do this. It"s almost an insult to their G*d-given talent that they have to do this stuff, to cheat."
Fuller claimed the prosecution was disingenuous with a decision not to call as a trial witness St. Tammany Sheriff"s Office crime lab deputy Madelyn Collins. Collins was called to the stand late Friday afternoon as a defense witness. She testified that trace amounts of gunshot residue were found on Will Smith"s hands, though not in the density usually seen on someone who recently fired a weapon.
"If not for us calling her before she left town for the weekend, y"all would have never known that Will Smith had gunshot residue on his hands!" Fuller thundered to the jury.
Fuller was accused in July of possible witness tampering in a memorandum Cannizzaro"s office sent to local law enforcement agencies, in five cases unrelated to Hayes". No charges have been filed but an ethics complaint was lodgedby a Baton Rouge attorney unhappy that Fuller spoke to his client without his knowledge or permission.
2. Ceravolo also a topic
Both sides" closings also involved William Ceravolo, the retired New Orleans police captain accused months ago of tampering with evidence at the crime scene, specifically of removing a gun from the interior of the Mercedes SUV belonging to his friend Will Smith within moments of the shooting.
The purported witness who made the accusation, identified in court Friday by defense-hired private investigator David Olasky as Warnisha "Weedy" Hudson, was not called to testify. Prosecutors had already debunked the accusation with surveillance video showing Ceravolo at the Windsor Court Hotel at the time of the shooting.
Napoli again accused Hayes" defense team of unfairly allowing unwarranted suspicion of Ceravolo to linger, as a distraction from the central point that Will Smith was shot seven times in the back by defendant claiming self-defense. Fuller countered that he had no intention of even bringing up Ceravolo, until prosecutors raised his name in opening arguments and put him on their witness list.
"This is smoke-and-mirrors foolishness," Fuller said. "Mr. Ceravolo should have never been an issue at this trial. But we all know how this district attorney"s office works. I"ve never seen any trial where somebody who is not even accused of something is brought in and defended by the district attorney"s office. I"m wondering why they"re putting so much emphasis on it when I haven"t mentioned his name since May."
Rodrigue said, "We didn"t know they would abandon that claim. They never retracted that it would be part of their defense. Of course we had to mention his name, because they blasted it all over the media."
3. Fuller a marathon man
Jurors listened to 5 hours and 16 minutesof closing arguments in the trial Sunday. Prosecutor Jason Napoli went first with a closing statement that took 51 minutes.
Defense attorney John Fuller"s closing took 3 hours, 37 minutes (217 minutes). Fuller spoke without pause for 1 hour and 47 minutes before Judge Camille Buras interrupted for a recess to allow jurors a bathroom break. After the recess, Fuller resumed speaking for another 1 hour and 50 minutes.
Jurors took a lunch break of 1 hour and 12 minutes, before prosecutor Laura Rodrigue gave the state"s rebuttal closing, which spanned 48 minutes.
4. Jailhouse phone call played
Responding to a challenge laid down by Fuller in his closing argument, Rodrigue included in her rebuttal presentation an audio recording of one of cardell hayes" jailhouse phone calls, which was referenced Saturday but not previously introduced for the jury.
In the call, Hayes is heard speaking to an unidentified woman about Racquel Smithaccepting on her late husband"s behalf Will Smith"s induction into the Saints Hall of Fame on Oct. 28. The ceremony marked Racquel Smith"s first public commentssince her husband"s death.
The recorded call was at times inaudible inside the courtroom. But jurors heard Hayes say, in reference to the widow, "Yeah, her with all her bulls---," and "phony, phony, phony."
5. "This case is about stupidity"
Rodrigue spoke bluntly toward the end of her closing argument, telling jurors that Fuller was right that this case should be evaluated on its merits, no matter the victim"s celebrity.
"This case is no different than the senseless and unnecessary murders that happen every day in this city," she said. "This is about somebody that got really mad. This case is about stupidity, about someone getting p****d off and shooting someone eight times. Cardell Hayes had the courage to grab a gun, but not to shoot Will Smith while he was standing in front of him. He waits until he"s got a clean shot at him, and shoots him when Will Smith walks away because he thinks it"s over.
"Is that the world we want to live in? When you"re born, you get a birth certificate and a gun, and whoever shoots first wins? The argument was over between them. It had been defused and Will Smith was walking away."
