NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Cardell Hayes is still guilty of manslaughter for his 2016 road rage shooting that killed former Saints star Will Smith.
Louisiana’s Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal on Tuesday (Dec. 16) denied Hayes’ appeal seeking to vacate his January 2024 conviction and sentence of 22 years and two months in state prison.
It was the second time Hayes had been found guilty of manslaughter by an Orleans Parish jury, but Hayes’ first conviction in December 2016 was vacated by a U.S. Supreme Court decision that found non-unanimous jury verdicts for serious felonies to be insufficient. A 10-2 jury verdict, then allowable under Louisiana law, resulted in Hayes’ first conviction after a weeklong trial…