Photo: Frank Conlon-Poo / Getty Images
On May 1, 2002, the former All -NBA star Jayson Williams was indicted on a number of charges, including aggravated murder, in connection with the shooting death of limousine driver Costas Christofi on the Williams property on 14 February.
Williams enjoyed a successful NBA career with the Philadelphia 65ers and the New Jersey Nets of 1990 a 1999, when a leg injury forced him to retire. Although he had several run-ins with the law, Williams was best known for his affable demeanor and his youth and charity work off the pitch, and was widely praised for taking in his nephews after two of his sisters died of AIDS.
All that changed on 14 February 2001, when the police were called to the farm of 65 Williams Acres in Alexandria Township, New Jersey, after the Christofi shooting.
A tape of the 911 reveals that the caller alluded to the fact that a man on the farm had shot himself, and that is what the witnesses told him they told police when they first arrived on the scene. Soon, however, the story changed and witnesses began to reveal that it was actually Williams who had been holding the gun.
According to reports, Christofi had been hired to take a group of friends of Williams, including several members of the Harlem Globetrotters, to a local restaurant, while another group drove with Williams.
Once at the restaurant, the men racked up a significant liquor bill. Christofi then led some of the group back to the Williams property, where they invited him inside.
As the night progressed, Williams invited his guests to see his collection of weapons in the master bedroom of his mansion. Prosecutors allege that shortly afterward, he pulled out a Browning-caliber shotgun 12 and, with it pointed at Christofi, he threw it up.
The gun went off, sending the fatal pellets into the driver’s stomach. Some witnesses said that Williams almost immediately began to manipulate the scene to make it appear that Christofi killed himself while the rest of the group was in another part of the house. Williams allegedly jumped into a pool to clean himself up, changed clothes, cleaned the shotgun and repositioned it. They also said that Williams pressured them to lie to the police.
Williams was charged with aggravated murder and tampering with witnesses and evidence, among other charges. The 30 April 2004, after a three-month trial, he was acquitted of the most serious charge, aggravated murder, but convicted of four counts of cover-up.
The jury was unable to reach a verdict on reckless homicide, the second most serious charge. Jurors later said they simply did not believe Williams intended to kill Christofi.
The 14 May, prosecutors took the first steps to retry Williams. After several years of delays, in February 2010 pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and was sentenced to five years in prison. He was released in April 2022.
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