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Jury was close to deadlock in Hayes trial, alternate juror says

The jury that convicted Cardell Hayes of manslaughter by a 10-2 verdict in the fatal shooting of former Saints stand-out Will Smith was teetering close to a hung jury, one of the alternate jurors told WWL-TV.

The two hold-outs voted in favor of outright acquittal based on Hayes’ claim of self-defense, the alternate said. Not only that, several other jurors “were on the fence” between manslaughter and acquittal, but ultimately were “persuaded to vote for manslaughter,” the alternate said.

Had there been one more juror who would have stuck with a vote for acquittal, the jury would have been deadlocked, forcing a mistrial. That would have left the district attorney’s office with a decision to retry the case or try to negotiate a plea bargain.

“Second-degree murder was taken off the table right away,” said the alternate, who despite not sitting in on deliberations, had conversations with the jurors after the verdict was announced. “It always seemed like a heat-of-the-moment type of thing.”

Another juror who was a part of deliberations agreed. That juror, spoke to the New Orleans Advocate under the condition of anonymity.

“No one there had an intent of agreeing with the second-degree murder (charge). No one. I know that may come as a surprise,” she said. “Really, what we were struggling with was not guilty — which didn’t bode well either, because (Hayes) had some responsibility for his actions.”

In addition to being found guilty of manslaughter by a 10-2 vote, the jury voted by the same tally to convict Hayes of attempted manslaughter for shooting Smith’s widow Racquel in the legs. Hayes was acquitted of a third charge, aggravated criminal damage to property for ramming his Hummer into Smith’s Mercedes SUV.

“Nobody thought that he hit the Mercedes on purpose,” the alternate said.

The alternate juror said the final guilty verdicts came down to two main points.

First, there was the pause that witnesses described between the first two shots fired by Hayes, and the remaining seven. That pause was troubling to the jury because it seemed that any threat perceived by Hayes would have evaporated after those initial shots did their damage, the juror said.

Second, the coroner's report showed the trajectory of one of the shots that hit Will Smith was at an upward angle through his Smith's body. That forensic fact was interpreted by jurors as meaning that Smith was face down and no longer a threat when Hayes shot him seven additional times in the back, the juror said.

“Most people couldn't get past the fact that there were so many gunshots,” the alternate said. “He was already incapacitated, so he was not a threat at that point.”

WWL-TV legal analyst Chick Foret came to the same conclusion.

“The state’s theory is that the incident was over. It was defused,” Foret said. “They were heading back to the vehicle. They were facing each other. Cardell Hayes fires, he hits Racquel in the leg, he hits Will in the side and then Will goes for the gun.”

Despite the final verdict, the alternate said the two hold-outs for acquittal “were adamant that he (Hayes) acted in self-defense.”

The alternate juror also said the entire panel went through the trial not knowing that manslaughter was even a possible verdict, not until it was explained during the judge's final instructions.

“We learned about the options other than second-degree (murder) at the closing argument,” the alternate said. “Nobody knew. I wish we would have known earlier.”

Hayes, 29, remains in jail without bond pending his sentencing on Feb. 17. He faces 20 to 40 years on the manslaughter conviction, and an additional 20 years on the attempted manslaughter conviction, although judges often allow sentences from the same crime to run concurrently.

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