Smith's slaying rippled across the sports world, with figures from NBA star LeBron James to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell offering their condolences. James said on Twitter: "So sad man. Good dude he was man!"
Smith was initially suspended four games but, with three other players, successfully appealed their suspensions and were never compelled to miss games, even as Saints coach Sean Payton was suspended the entire 2012 season.
Hayes' Humvee H2 rear-ended Smith's Mercedes G63 about 11:30 p.m. Saturday in the upscale Lower Garden District, pushing it into a Chevrolet Impala driven by two of Smith's acquaintances. The two argued,Wholesale Authentic NHL Jerseys, and Hayes shot both Smith and Smith's wife, Racquel, police said. She was wounded in the leg and taken to a hospital.
Hayes is not guilty of murder, Fuller said. "The story that's real is different from the story that's being put out there," he said.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Former New Orleans Saints player Will Smith was shot and killed in a case of road rage by a man who had rear-ended his car,NFL Jerseys China, police said Sunday.
Hayes called 911 after he was hit and convinced a witness who was about to leave to remain and talk to police, Fuller said. Gamble told The Associated Press in an email Sunday evening that he had no immediate information about the witness or the 911 call.
Off the field,Cheap Authentic NFL Jerseys, Smith took an active role in trying to improve children's lives, establishing a foundation called, Where There's A Will, There's A Way. Its stated mission is "to motivate, educate and provide opportunities for women and children."
Defense attorney John Fuller asked for low bond, noting that Hayes had waited for police, owns a towing business and is raising his 5-year-old son.
Smith was a first-round draft choice by New Orleans in 2004. He led the Saints with a career-high 13 sacks in 2009, when the club won its only Super Bowl. Smith's 67 ? career sacks rank fourth in Saints history.
Harrison said the former defensive end had dined just hours before the Saturday night crash with a police officer who had once been sued by Hayes,Cheap Jerseys Free, whose father was shot and killed by police in 2005. However, it was not clear if that played any role in the confrontation.
Hayes sued the New Orleans Police Department and six officers after police killed his father in 2005. The former officer who dined with Smith, William Ceravolo, was not present at the time of the crash, Gamble said.
Smith, a native of Queens, New York, played for Ohio State's 2002 national championship team and graduated in 2005 with a degree in criminology.
A year earlier, however, Smith served a two-game suspension that stemmed from findings in 2008 that he and several other NFL players used a weight-loss product called StarCaps, which contained a diuretic banned by the league because it was known to mask steroid use. That suspension was enforced after legal challenges spanning several seasons.
Online court records show Hayes pleaded guilty in 2014 to one count each of possessing an illegal weapon and possessing drug paraphernalia.
"The Saints family is hurting and devastated as it has lost a member too young and too soon," Saints owner Tom Benson said in a statement.
The Smith family said in a statement that they were thankful for the outpouring of support but requested privacy as the family grieves for a "devoted husband, father and friend." Will and Racquel Smith have three children.
Smith was defensive captain for much of his career,Authentic Jerseys Cheap, but it was also that leadership role that landed him at the center of the NFL's bounty probe in 2012. The league concluded that Smith and fellow defensive captain Jonathan Vilma helped run a locker-room pool that paid cash bonuses for heavy and even injurious hits.
The gun he had was legal, Fuller said after Sunday's hearing, noting that police didn't accuse him of any weapons charge. Police spokesman Tyler Gamble said the gun hadn't been reported stolen, but tracing its actual history takes more time.

He last played in an NFL regular season game in 2012. During the 2013 preseason, a knee injury forced him onto injured reserve. He was signed in the 2014 offseason by New England but did not make the Patriots' regular season roster.
There was no indication Smith, 34, knew 28-year-old Cardell Hayes before the deadly confrontation, or that anything except the car wreck led to the shooting. Hayes waited for police to arrive after th