SOMERVILLE — The 18 months Jayson Williams is likely to spend in prison could help him sort out his life, supporters said Monday after the troubled former NBA star pleaded guilty in the fatal shooting of limousine driver Costas “Gus” Christofi.
with his wife, Tanya, after pleading guilty.
Williams, who pleaded to aggravated assault, “was always wrestling with how to move forward, when he hasn’t resolved the past,” said former New Jersey Nets President Michael Rowe. “This is something where you never forget what you’ve done, but you try to put it behind you.”
Significant dates in the life of former New Jersey Nets center Jayson Williams since he played basketball at St. John's University in Queens:
June 27, 1990: Drafted in 1st round (21st overall pick) of the 1990 NBA draft by Phoenix Suns.
Oct. 28, 1990: Traded to Philadelphia 76ers.
Oct. 8, 1992: Traded to New Jersey Nets.
Jan. 27, 1998: Named to NBA All-Star team for the Eastern Conference.
Jan. 14, 1999: Agrees to terms of a six-year guaranteed contract worth $86 million.
April 1, 1999: Suffers career-ending injury when he broke his right tibia and tore the meniscus in his right knee as he tried to avoid a collision with Nets teammate Stephon Marbury.
June 28, 2000: Placed on the retired list by the Nets after a year of failed attempts to return to basketball.
Feb. 14, 2002: Is handling a shotgun at his Hunterdon County mansion when it discharges and kills limousine driver Costas “Gus” Christofi almost instantly.
April 30, 2004: Is found not guilty of three of the most serious charges against him, including aggravated manslaughter. But he is convicted of four charges related to a botched coverup following Christofi's death. The jury hangs on the core charge of reckless manslaughter as the four-month trial concludes.
Oct. 16, 2009: Loses bid to have convictions thrown out because of alleged racial bias in the Hunterdon County prosecutor's office. The latest ruling by Superior Court Judge Edward Coleman in a multi-year line of motions by both sides sets the stage for an expected retrial three months later.
Jan. 11, 2010: Pleads guilty to aggravated assault and agrees to an 18-month prison sentence, with no prospect for early release.
One of Williams’ former coaches, Don Casey, said the agreement was making “the best of a bad, bad situation that was just continuing to linger.”
“The latest episode seals the deal,” Casey said of Williams’ drunken-driving arrest last week in lower Manhattan. “Now, go in [to prison], settle down and begin regrouping. None of that was happening.”
Armon Gilliam, a teammate of Williams with both the Philadelphia 76ers and the Nets, said he hoped the prison sentence would be “the final part of a sad chapter.”
Williams has remained free since shooting Christofi on Feb. 14, 2002 — and also since being convicted of four related post-shooting counts on April 30, 2004.
But the former Nets center — a National Basketball Association All-Star in 1998 — has seen his life take what a prosecutor Monday called “a downward spiral” that has made him “a lightning rod for trouble.”
Williams — who will be sentenced Feb. 23 and serve a minimum of 18 months in prison — saw his father, E.J. die in November. His wife — though in attendance Monday — has filed for divorce. And while the 6-foot-10 Williams earned nearly $100 million in his NBA career, he has fallen behind in child support payments and told a judge he has few liquid assets remaining.
Just last week, Williams was accused of drunken driving when his luxury sport utility vehicle crashed into a tree in lower Manhattan.
“The public has a right to be protected from Mr. Williams, your honor,” Deputy Attorney General Steven Farman said in an unsuccessful bid to have Williams’ $250,000 bail revoked immediately. “He’s wild and irresponsible.”
Many of Williams’ friends and advisers had been urging Williams to take the plea deal, rather than risk a conviction for reckless manslaughter.
Casey said he hoped for a “new incarnation” of Williams to emerge once he leaves prison — perhaps before the end of 2011, though he could serve as much as 3½ additional years for the post-shooting counts.
Gilliam said that consolation of the prison sentence for Williams is that he would have “plenty of time for the introspection he needs to be prepared for the next phase of his life.”
Rowe also is hopeful that Monday will mark the start of a turnaround for Williams.
“He has to close this chapter and pay his debt,” Rowe said. “And when he gets out, hopefully he can — by his experience — teach people how not to caught up the way he did.”
A sad irony is that the victim, Christofi, already had rebounded from his own troubled past when he died on Feb. 14, 2002, according to friends and family.
The limo driver had served time in prison in the 1970s and overcame drug addiction during the decade before he was shot. Christofi — 55 at the time of his death — later worked as a drug counselor and was described by his employer during the trial as among his most reliable workers.
Christofi was hired to take some of Williams’ friends to a Harlem Globetrotters game in Lehigh, Pa., and he drove several of them back to Williams’ Hunterdon County estate after a late-night dinner. Williams’ friends invited Christofi to come inside, and Williams arrived a little later.
Williams almost immediately took a Browning Citori, a double-barreled, 12-gauge shotgun, from a gun rack in the master suite that contained six weapons — four of which were loaded, according to police. In response to questioning by his attorney, Joseph Hayden, Williams admitted Monday that he had not checked to see whether the safety mechanism was engaged.
Asked if he made sure the gun was not loaded, Williams replied, “I only saw the top barrel — I didn’t check the bottom barrel.” Williams added that he “didn’t look where the muzzle of the gun was pointing” before snapping the gun closed with one hand.
| Video: Jayson Williams pleads guilty to aggravated assault in limo driver's death |
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