Saints Great Will Smith's Killer In 2016 Sentenced To 25 Years For Manslaughter

The man who shot New Orleans Saints All-Pro defensive end Will Smith in the back seven times and killed him on April 9, 2016, in the Garden District of New Orleans after a car accident was sentenced to 25 years for manslaughter on Thursday in New Orleans.

Smith, who retired from the NFL in 2014, had rear ended Cardell Hayes, and the two argued along with Smith's wife Racquel. Hayes alleged that Smith told him he was going back to his car to get his gun, so his attorneys argued that he fired eight times in self-defense. 

Hayes also shot Smith's wife, whose leg was badly injured by multiple bullets. Smith, who would be 42 today, died slumped over the driver's seat of his SUV.

Defensive end Will Smith was the 18th pick of the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft by the Saints. He played from 2004-13 and was a major cog for the Saints during their only Super Bowl title run on Feb. 7, 2010, in Miami. (Getty Images)

Hayes, 44, had faced a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison. Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge Camille Buras sentenced Hayes for the second time. In December of 2016, she also sentenced him to 25 years after a jury voted 10-2 for his conviction. He served four years before being released for a retrial following a U.S. Supreme Court decision that said non-unanimous jury verdicts were unconstitutional. Hayes will receive credit for the four years served, Buras said.

Hayes' defense attorneys pointed out that Smith's blood alcohol level at the time of the shooting was three times the legal limit for operating a vehicle in Louisiana, according to the autopsy. They also argued that Smith was prone to violence. He had been arrested for domestic abuse in Lafayette, Louisiana, in November of 2010, after he and his wife visited a nightclub, and he allegedly pulled her hair and dragged her down a street. 

A grand jury in 2011 indicted Smith on misdemeanor domestic abuse battery and public intoxication. In 2012, the Lafayette Parish District Attorney's office dismissed all charges after Smith participated in counseling and completed community service.

Will Smith Was Vital In Saints' Only Super Bowl Title Run

A Queens, New York, native, Smith was a first team All-American at Ohio State in 2003 and was a star on the Buckeyes' national championship team in the 2002-03 season. The Saints picked him with the 18th pick of the first round in 2004. He made the 2006 Pro Bowl and was a pillar of the Saints defense that helped lead New Orleans to its only Super Bowl title on Feb. 7, 2010. He is in the Saints' Hall of Fame and their Ring of Honor in the Superdome.

He played for the Saints through 2013 before a brief stint with New England in 2014.

"My dad will never watch me walk across the stage or walk me down the aisle," Smith's daughter Lisa Smith said in court and added Hayes ruined her family's life, which includes two brothers.

"Dad will never see any of my achievements ever," she said.