The manslaughter trial of Cardell Hayes, for the 2016 shooting death of former New Orleans Saints player Will Smith, is being continued, with a hearing in court today to pick a new trial date.
Hayes was convicted of manslaughter for the 2016 shooting death of former New Orleans Saints star Will Smith. But he was granted a retrial when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned non-unanimous jury convictions in 2021.
Loyola Law Professor Dane Ciolino says when it comes to new trials... one side has the upper hand.
"A retrial always gives the defense an advantage," he explained. "They have the benefit of transcripts from the first trial, they know what all of the state's witnesses are going to say, and they can more effectively cross-examine those witnesses."
And this time around, the prosecution will have to convince all jurors beyond a reasonable doubt of Hayes' guilt.
Ciolino says that is not the only difficulty that prosecutors face.
Since the original trial was for murder, but the jury settled on manslaughter, there is now no fall-back position for prosecutors to get a conviction on a lesser charge.
"The best-case scenario is what they already have," said Ciolino, "which is a manslaughter conviction."
