After deliberating for almost six hours on a Sunday night, a jury of eight women and four men found semipro football player Cardell Hayes criminally responsible for both the death of former New Orleans Saints defensive end Will Smith and the shooting of Smith’s wife, Racquel Smith. The jury, however, declined to find Hayes guilty of second degree murder, which prosecutors sought and would have carried a mandatory life in prison sentence without a chance for parole. Instead, the jury found Hayes guilty of manslaughter, a still serious charge that under Louisiana law carries a sentence of 20 to 40 years in prison.
A closer look at jury's verdict that found Will Smith's shooter guilty of manslaughter
