NEW ORLEANS — The family of Cardell Hayes didn't say anything as they left the Orleans Parish Criminal Courthouse Thursday morning, but the disappointment was obvious.
They hoped bail would be set for Hayes, convicted four years ago of killing Saints star Will Smith and wounding his wife during a road-rage incident on Magazine Street.
While Hayes was charged with second-degree murder in Smith's death, a jury convicted him of manslaughter by a verdict of 10 to 2.
The U.S. Supreme Court tossed Hayes's conviction in January after it ruled non-unanimous verdicts were unconstitutional. His lawyers wanted a bail low enough that he could be freed from jail ahead of any possible retrial.
They declined to comment after the hearing, but recently said they hoped any bail would be appropriate for a manslaughter charge.
“His bond should be based on the charge of manslaughter and not second-degree murder,” defense attorney Eric Santana said last week.
But Judge Camille Buras said she would take time to decide on setting a new bond, partly due to emotional testimony from Racquel Smith, Will Smith's widow.
Racquel Smith testified through tears on a Zoom call, saying she doesn't think Hayes should have the chance to walk free.
“I promised my kids on the day that he was sentenced that they didn't have to worry about this man," Racquel Smith told the court. "He doesn’t deserve to get bond. ... He gave my entire family a life sentence.”
Buras will set Hayes’s bond on March 16.