(CNN) A Louisiana man was found guilty of manslaughter in connection with the deadly shooting of former NFL player Joe McKnight, the Jefferson Parish district attorney's office said.

Authorities say Ronald Gasser, 56, shot McKnight during a 2016 road-rage incident in the New Orleans suburb of Terrytown. Gasser had been indicted on a second-degree murder charge but the jury returned a lesser verdict Friday night after roughly eight hours of deliberations, CNN affiliate WGNO reported.

Gasser would have faced the possibility of a life sentence for a second-degree murder conviction, but instead he faces up to 40 years in prison because of the jury's decision to convict on the lesser offense.

"We offer our most sincere condolences to the McKnight family and hope they can find peace in knowing that justice has been served in this case. We also want to thank the jurors for their service and incredible attentiveness they spent following the evidence," Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul Connick said in a statement.

The altercation

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