NEW ORLEANS — The Louisiana Supreme Court will hear arguments about whether the man who fatally shot a former NFL player during a 2016 road rage incident can be tried for murder again after his lesser conviction was overturned.
In the first instance, authorities in Jefferson Parish in New Orleans charged Ronald Gasser of second-degree murder for the shooting death of Joe McKnight. McKnight was a high school football star at Louisiana’s John Curtis Christian School. He went on to play for three seasons with the Louisiana Football Association. New York JetsOne with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Gasser was instead convicted by the jury of manslaughter. The verdict was overturned after it was pronounced by a non-unanimous jury.
The Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office stated that the nonunanimous verdict for manslaughter should be considered a retrial on the murder charge. Prosecutors wanted to give Gasser another chance for murder.
Gretna’s state district judge ruled and a Gretna state appellate panel voted in a 2-1 decision that Gasser would be tried again for murder. This violated his constitutional protection against double punishment.
The highest court of the state did not fix a date for arguments.
Witnesses at McKnightâs 2018 trial claimed that McKnight had been moving at high speed in and out traffic before the shooting. Prosecutors argued that Gasser escalated conflict by following McKnight down a route he wouldn’t ordinarily take.
McKnight was shot at by Gasser’s defense group.