NEW ORLEANS — A key prosecution witness took the stand in the retrial of Cardell Hayes, the man accused in the shooting death of Saints star Will Smith.
Wednesday, Smith’s widow Racquel testified about her final hours with the love of her life and what was happening before, during and after the gunfire.
Her testimony was raw and emotional.
She said Hayes shot her and her husband as they were walking away in April 2016.
Prosecutors allege Hayes shot Smith in the back and his wife in the legs after rear-ending their SUV in the Lower Garden District.
Racquel Smith testified the shooting left her with physical and emotional scars.
“I didn’t want to move,” she said. “I was defeated mentally, physically, my husband was gone, my kids were crying every day.”
Smith also talked about the last day with her husband.
She said her and Will had a good time at the French Quarter Festival listening to Zydeco music and enjoying the city and the moment.
She teared up as she told the jury, “He gave me my last kiss and said I love my country girl. He was very happy.”
Smith testified that neither her husband nor a second man in their party had guns in their hands before the shooting.
She also said she went to where Will and Hayes were arguing like high school kids after the crash and tried to calm the confrontation.
“I told my husband we have three kids. This isn’t worth it…we locked eyes, and he said I got it. We walked away. It was done, it was over. We absolutely turned our backs and we walked away.”
That’s when she says shots rang out and both her and her husband were hit.
Defense attorneys have claimed Hayes was not the aggressor, but fired in self-defense, fearing that the angry NFL star was fetching a gun from his SUV’s glove box.
Smith told defense attorney Sarah Chervinsky during a tough cross examination, “It was not necessary for this man to murder my husband and shoot me. My husband died because of (Hayes’) anger.”
Legal Analyst Craig Mordock said Smith connected will with the jury.
But he believes the defense scored some points when Racquel could not recall how much her husband drank that night.
“She kept being asked whether, how much they had to drink that day and she kept saying I don’t remember, I don’t remember, I don’t remember,” Mordock said. “That was in contrast with how details she was on direct examination with some of the other things that went on that day that Racquel had very specific memories of.”
After Racquel Smith wrapped her testimony, Will Smith’s former Saints teammate Pierre Thomas took the stand.
He was with Smith the night of the shooting and at the crime scene.
The trial is expected to last up to 6-8 days.
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