GRETNA, La. — The man who killed NFL running back Joe McKnight in a December 2016 road-rage confrontation was found guilty of manslaughter Friday by a jury in suburban New Orleans.
Jurors began deliberations Friday afternoon in the case of Ronald Gasser, 56. Manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of 40 years.
Defense attorneys had claimed Gasser feared for his life when he fired from his driver's seat at McKnight, who was standing at his open passenger-side window.
Police said the death had followed a 5-mile (8-kilometer) rolling confrontation that began with dangerously aggressive driving on a New Orleans bridge and ended with McKnight being shot as he stood outside Gasser's car at a suburban intersection.