This attorney going all out
Cardell Hayes' attorney asks NOPD to withdraw from Will Smith case
The attorney for Cardell Hayes, the man accused of killing former Saints player Will Smith, has sent a letter to New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu accusing the police department of misconduct and asking it be withdraw from the Smith investigation.
An NOPD spokesman said the investigation has been fair and the department will remain in the case.
Attorney John Fuller sent the letter to Landrieu and NOPD Chief Michael Harrison, asking for Louisiana State Police or the FBI to take over the investigation of Smith's death. Smith was gunned down after a traffic crash late April 9 in the Lower Garden District. Hayes was charged with second-degree murder.
The letter said the defense has "a grave lack of faith in the honesty and competency" of the NOPD's investigation, citing what it called "factual misstatements from high-ranking" NOPD officials.
The letter did not not detail those alleged misstatements.
But Fuller has strongly suggested someone may have tampered with the crime scene. At a press conference Wednesday, he remarked it was "odd" how much time it took NOPD to publicly reveal additional guns were found at the crime scene, including one in Smith's car.
Police said after the shooting that it had recovered one gun, the one authorities said Hayes used to kill Smith and shoot Smith's wife, Racquel. But late Tuesday NOPD said it had recovered two additional weapons, after obtaining a search warrant for the vehicles owned by Smith and Hayes. One weapon was in Smith's car and the other in Hayes' SUV.
Responding to Fuller's letter Friday, NOPD spokesman Tyler Gamble said: "Every homicide in New Orleans deserves a fair, thorough and complete investigation, and that is what we are doing in this case. We will continue to follow the facts wherever they take us."
Fuller's letter was first reported by The Advocate.