Five years ago, Cardell Hayes received a sentence of 25 years in prison for manslaughter and 15 years for attempted murder when he allegedly shot and killed former New Orleans Saints defensive lineman Will Smith. Smith’s wife, Racquel, was also shot in the leg.
The 34-year-old Hayes claimed the 2016 shooting of Smith and his wife was in self-defense. He was charged with second-degree murder and attempted murder and later convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter and attempted manslaughter by a split jury vote of 10-2.
However, the convictions were vacated after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that non-unanimous juries are unconstitutional.
Hayes is now set to undergo a new trial.
Here’s more from NOLA.com:
“Hayes was convicted in December, 2016, of manslaughter and attempted manslaughter by a non-unanimous jury eight months after Smith was killed. But the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his convictions last July, after the higher court found non-unanimous jury verdicts unconstitutional.
Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge Camille Buras on Monday set the date for Hayes’ retrial after a pretrial conference with Hayes’ attorney, John Fuller, and prosecutors with the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office.”
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A pre-trial conference is reportedly scheduled for June 23.
Smith, the former first-round pick out of Ohio State, played with the Saints from 2004-12, recording 67.5 career sacks and 457 total tackles.
