Man who fatally shot former NFL player Joe McKnight sentenced to 30 years

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2018/03/ronald_gasser_sentenced_to_yea.html#incart_2box

Jefferson Parish Judge Ellen Kovach on Thursday (March 15) sentenced Ronald Gasser to 30 years in prison for gunning down former NFL player Joe McKnight after a five-mile, mutual road rage-fueled chase.

"Let this be a cautionary tale to all drivers who rage behind the wheel of their car at other drivers," Kovach said. The tragedy could have been avoided if either man "had the good sense, the courage and the wisdom to simply disengage."

A jury of eight women and four men found Gasser guilty of manslaughter on Jan. 26 after a seven-day trial. Gasser had been charged with second-degree murder, but jurors voted 10-2 for the lesser charge after deliberating for about seven and a half hours.

Jurors rejected Gasser's argument that he had acted in self-defense when he shot McKnight as McKnight stood at the passenger-side window of Gasser's car at the intersection of Behrman Highway and Holmes Boulevard on the afternoon of Dec. 1, 2016.