National Football League

Will Smith's killer tells his side of the story in court

Published Dec. 14, 2016 8:39 a.m. ET

Andre Vergara

Cardell Hayes took the stand Saturday and said he shot Will Smith only after the retired New Orleans Saints star punched him several times and brandished his own gun.

Hayes denied hitting Smith's SUV on purpose, and said when he and his passenger got out of their Hummer, Smith and his passenger Richard Hernandez were the aggressors and used racial epithets. Hayes testified that Smith threw a cup of liquor on him and punched him repeatedly, and that he saw Hernandez with something that looked like a knife. Hayes said he fired his handgun after he thought he heard a gunshot.

"I knew for a fact that I was going to get shot," Hayes, 29, told the jury.

Hayes is charged with second-degree murder after shooting Smith once in the side and seven times in the back. He's also charged with the attempted second-degree murder of Smith's wife, Racquel, who was shot in the legs. Hayes insisted to the jury that he did not shoot her.

Hayes' account contradicts the testimony of witnesses who were with Smith that night, who claimed the argument appeared to be over when Hayes started shooting. Prosecutors say that ballistics evidence proves Hayes shot both Smith and his wife and he never told police that Smith had threatened him with a gun. While Smith had a loaded gun in his SUV, prosecutors said there was no evidence that he ever wielded it and it was not fired.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.