This incident is so, so weird.
I saw the point made that, if Smith accidentally shot his wife, Cardell would have thought he was being shot at first. It's a great point for sure, but also I feel like if that were true then either Cardell or (more likely in the media) his buddy would be screaming that from the the rooftops. So far I haven't seen that.
At this moment I don't think that's what happened, but regardless though my "gut" on this is that I believe Cardell and his friend, they really seem to be earnest and Cardell's actions following the shooting I think speak volumes, and Smith definitely seems to have been ready to bring his own gun into the situation.
I really don't want this to be taken the wrong way, but rather than calling Cardell the "aggressor" for getting out of his truck armed, it seems more accurate to say that he had the understanding that if you're going to get into a dispute in that location in the middle of the night, and you have a gun available, you should probably grab it bc there's a good chance the other dude does too. It's unfortunate if that's the state of being in New Orleans, but it is what it is, people live it every day, and to me in that context that line of thinking is generally defensible.
Along the same lines though, in Smith's defense, if what the SI article says about fender-bender carjackings is true I can understand to an extent why he would drive away after the first incident, and also why he would come out "aggressively", for lack of a better term, after the second one, even if he hadn't been drunk at the time.
It's just tragic end-to-end, and it's super confusing, but based on what I understand a murder charge for Hayes seems absurd. Voluntary manslaughter or something yeah possibly, but if Louisiana has a strong stand your ground law, then probably not even that.
