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*Cardell Hayes’ lawyers have appealed the conviction and his 25-year sentence arising from a confrontation that turned deadly with retired New Orleans Saints star Will Smith after a 2016 traffic collision.
Hayes was convicted of manslaughter in December 2016 in Smith’s death and of attempted manslaughter because Smith’s wife, Raquel, was shot in both legs during the encounter.
As reported by ESPN, Hayes’ attorney Paul Barker wrote in an appeal filed last Thursday that “the judge who tried Hayes should have granted a new trial because a witness who contacted Barker the day after Hayes’ conviction said he had heard two guns at the time of the shooting, buttressing Hayes’ claim that he had fired in self-defense.”
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In his filing Thursday, Barker said a new witness, Michael Burnside, emailed him the last day of the trial and explained that he “heard two guns at the time Smith was shot.” Reached the next day, Burnside said he had heard four “baps” consistent with a small-caliber gun before a “boom” consistent with a larger-caliber weapon like Hayes’.
“Mr. Burnside states that the first “boom” of the larger caliber weapon overlapped the last “bap” of the smaller caliber weapon,” Barker wrote. That backs up Hayes’ testimony that Smith fired at him first, he said.
Barker also said the judge didn’t let trial lawyer John Fuller question retired Saints running back Deuce McAllister, the first prosecution witness, about Smith’s “arrest for abusing Raquel Smith while out at a bar in Lafayette.”
“Barker’s appeal also contended the trial judge should have allowed testimony about Smith’s 2010 arrest on a domestic abuse charge. That would have shown he could be violent when drunk.”
District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro said in a statement Friday that prosecutors had proved Hayes’ guilt and that Buras managed “this difficult trial fairly and impeccably.”
“The falsehoods within this appeal make only one thing clear: That Cardell Hayes has yet to accept the consequences of his rash decision to open fire on an innocent couple,” the emailed statement said. It added that Hayes’ latest arguments make clear he “has yet to begin the rehabilitation necessary to one day return as a responsible and law-abiding member of our community.”
Smith, a 34-year-old father of three, was a defensive leader on the Saints team that he helped carry to a winning season in 2006 and a Super Bowl victory four years later.
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