NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The Latest on the sentencing hearing set for Cardell Hayes, who shot former New Orleans Saints star Will Smith to death after a traffic crash in 2016 (all times local):
4:30 p.m.
Defense lawyers for the man who killed former New Orleans Saints star Will Smith have filed a motion for a new trial based on “new evidence.”
Court records show the motion was filed Tuesday afternoon. The records don’t spell out what the evidence is. The motion is expected to be argued Wednesday, the same day Hayes is scheduled to be sentenced. It was unclear whether the motion might lead to a sentencing delay.
The New Orleans district attorney has said Hayes deserves to be imprisoned for 60 years. That would include the maximum 40 years for Hayes’ manslaughter conviction, followed by another 20 for attempted manslaughter in the wounding of Smith’s wife.
The shooting came after an April 2016 traffic crash. Hayes was convicted in December.
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8 a.m.
The man who killed former New Orleans Saints star Will Smith in an argument following a traffic crash avoided a mandatory life sentence last year when a jury convicted him of manslaughter instead of second-degree murder.
But 29-year-old Cardell Hayes may still be locked away for a very long time if prosecutors get their way at Wednesday’s sentencing hearing.
New Orleans District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro has said he believes Hayes deserves a 60-year sentence: the maximum of 40 years for Smith’s death, followed by another 20 years for wounding Smith’s wife, Racquel.
The hearing in state District Judge Camille Buras’ courtroom in New Orleans is likely to echo the drama of Hayes’s December trial. That trial was attended by Saints stars past and present.
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