Twice convicted killer of former Saints player Will Smith has sentence reduced

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - An Orleans Parish judge on Tuesday, July 23, agreed to reduce the sentence of Cardell Hayes, who was twice convicted of killing former New Orleans Saints player Will Smith in a 2016 road rage incident.

Criminal District Court Judge Camille Buras set Hayes’ prison sentence to 22 years and two months, a reduction of 34 months from the original sentence. Buras credited Hayes for time he spent on home incarceration prior to his second trial.

Hayes appeared via Zoom due to transportation issues still lingering from last week’s global CrowdStrike outage.

District Attorney Jason Williams’ office objected, arguing that Louisiana law does not allow house arrest to count for sentencing credit.

In January, a unanimous jury found Hayes guilty of manslaughter during a retrial.

Hayes must serve 20 years without the possibility of probation. His attorney is appealing the conviction and sentence.

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