Ex-NBA star Williams turns himself in to state police

Posted 11:48AM on Monday 25th February 2002 ( 23 years ago )

FLEMINGTON, N.J. - Former NBA star Jayson Williams turned himself in to state police Monday in connection with the fatal shooting of a limousine driver. Williams, accompanied by two men, walked through a back entrance into the state police barracks at Kingwood. He didn't comment as he entered the building and authorities did not say what charges he would face. Costas Christofi, 55, was found shot to death at Williams' 65-acre estate in Alexandria Township on Feb. 14. Christofi's nephew Chris Adams said Monday that the family had been briefed by prosecutors over the weekend and Williams will be charged with manslaughter. Hunterdon County officials scheduled a news conference for Monday afternoon about the shooting. Acting Hunterdon County Prosecutor Steven Lember did not immediately return a call Monday. He said over the weekend he would not confirm or deny reports about the charges. Lember told the New York Daily News that his office also was investigating whether Williams allowed Christofi to bleed to death before authorities were notified. The question could influence what charges Williams may eventually face. Williams' attorney, Joseph Hayden, did not immediately return a call for comment Monday. Adams said his family could not confirm earlier published reports that said Williams was playfully twirling a shotgun during a tour of his 30,000-square foot home in Alexandria Township when the weapon went off, hitting Christofi. Hayden has denied there was any horseplay involved. He has not commented on who was holding the gun. Christofi had been hired to drive Williams' friends from a charity event in Bethlehem, Pa., to Williams' home. The death was originally reported as a suicide. After an autopsy, the medical examiner ruled the shooting a homicide. The 6-foot-10 Williams was once among the NBA's best rebounders, but leg injuries ended his basketball career. He retired in 2000 from the New Jersey Nets and now works for NBC Sports as an NBA studio analyst. NBC Sports vice president Kevin Sullivan said the network would not comment immediately. Williams, 34, has freely admitted to mistakes in life, episodes he describes in a 2000 autobiography as "a lot of beers and barroom brawls and some scrapes with the law and too many fights and some yelling matches with coaches and a bunch of headlines." In 1992, he was accused of smashing a beer mug over a patron's head at a Chicago bar. Two years later, he was accused of firing a semiautomatic weapon into the parking lot at the Meadowlands sports complex. He writes in his autobiography that he almost shot New York Jets wide receiver Wayne Chrebet while firing a shotgun on his skeet-shooting range. And Williams faces a hearing this week on a charge that he pushed a police officer last November in a New Jersey bar.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/2/198342