Jayson Williams (born February 22, 1968, in the village of Ritter, South Carolina) is a former National Basketball Association professional basketball player. Standing 6 feet, 10 inches tall, he played high school basketball for the Christ The King RHS in New York City and college basketball for the St. John's University, and he graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1990. He is also notorious for his involvement in the shooting death of a limousine driver, and other legal problems, since his retirement from pro basketball.

Biography

Williams was selected by the Phoenix Suns NBA team in the first round (21st pick overall) of the 1990 NBA Draft. His draft rights were thereafter traded by the Suns to the Philadelphia 76ers for a 1993 NBA first-round draft choice on October 28, 1990. Williams was then traded by the 76ers to the New Jersey Nets for conditional draft choices on October 8, 1992. Injuries forced Williams to retire from pro basketball in 1999. In the year 2000, Williams and the journalist Steve Friedman co-wrote Williams's biography Loose Balls: Easy Money, Hard Fouls, Cheap Laughs, and True Love in the NBA (ISBN 0-7679-0569-5). In their book, Williams & Friedman claimed that Williams nearly shot the New York Jets wide receiver Wayne Chrebet while firing a large handgun on his skeet-shooting range. In January 2005, Williams briefly began to play basketball professionally again in the Continental Basketball Association.

Legal incidents

In 1992, Williams was accused of breaking a beer mug over a patron's head at a saloon in Chicago. Two years later, he was accused of firing a semiautomatic weapon into the parking lot at the Meadowlands Sports Complex. He was never criminally charged in either case.

Murder/manslaughter charges

In the spring of 2002, Williams was tried on charges of gunning down 55-year-old limousine driver Costas "Gus" Christofi at Williams's estate in Alexandria Township, New Jersey on February 14, 2002. Christofi had been hired to drive Williams's NBA charity team from a Bethlehem, Pennsylvania event to his mansion, about northwest of Trenton, New Jersey. Members of Williams's NBA charity basketball team were present at the scene. The New York Post reported that Williams was playing with a shotgun while giving a tour of his home when the weapon fired, killing Christofi.

That April, Williams was acquitted of the more serious charges against him, but the court's jury deadlocked on a charge of reckless manslaughter, and he currently faces a retrial on that charge. He was convicted on four counts of trying to cover up the shooting. In January 2003, the family of Costas "Gus" Christofi settled with Williams in a wrongful death civil lawsuit for $2.75 million.

On April 21, 2006, a Hunterdon County appeals court ruled that Williams can be retried on a reckless manslaughter charge stemming from the shooting death of Christofi. The court repeatedly delayed the retrial for a series of reasons, such as the State's 2008 appeal of a ruling relating to prosecutorial misconduct at the first trial. A September 2009 hearing is expected to resolve the misconduct issue so that the retrial can begin. The maximum sentence for the charged manslaughter is 10 years.

Tasering incident

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) reported on April 27, 2009, that Jayson Williams was stunned with a taser in a New York City hotel by members of the NYPD after reports that Williams had become suicidal and violent. Upon entering the Manhattan hotel room police said that Williams was visibly intoxicated, and that empty bottles of prescription medications were found around the room. Officers stunned him with the taser and took him to a hospital.

Raleigh bar fight

Williams was arrested on May 24, 2009, for allegedly punching a man in the face at a bar in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was charged with simple assault. Later the charges were dropped by the alleged victim.

Indoor lacrosse

Jayson Williams was also the principal owner of the New Jersey Storm of the National Lacrosse League. The franchise operated for two seasons, 2002 and 2003, before moving to Anaheim, California, becoming the Anaheim Storm team. Due to consistently poor results, as well as its presence in tough markets, the Storm failed to make much of an impression and it went dormant before the start of the 2006 season.

Career highlights

• Totaled 15 points (7–10 FG), a game-high 15 rebounds and a career-high six blocked shots against the Portland Trail Blazers on February 24, 1999
• Named to the 1997–98 and 1998–99 NBA All-Interview First Team
• Ranked 2nd in the NBA in 1997–98 with 13.6 rpg and led the league with 443 offensive rebounds
• Closed the 1997–98 season ranked 2nd in Nets franchise history with 1,337 offensive rebounds and 4th with 2,968 total rebounds
• Registered four points and 10 rebounds, in his All-Star debut, in the 1998 NBA All-Star Game in New York
• Named NBA Player of the Week for the week ending January 25, 1998, averaging 18.3 ppg and 17.8 rpg, and shooting .604 from the field, for the 2–2 Nets
• Grabbed a career-high 26 rebounds, including 12 offensive boards, and scored 13 points against the Cleveland Cavaliers on November 13, 1997
• Established a Nets franchise record with 17 offensive rebounds, totaling 18 points, a game-high 20 rebounds and three steals, against the Indiana Pacers on October 31, 1997
• Was second in the NBA in 1996–97 with 13.5 rpg in 41 games in 1996–97 before a torn thumb ligament injury ended his basketball season prematurely
• Posted 1996–97 season-highs of 28 points and 24 rebounds against the Los Angeles Clippers on November 30, 1996
• Averaged 5.7 rpg for the Nets in 1994–95 season despite only playing 13.1 mpg
• Most Valuable Player of the 1989 National Invitational Tournament college basketball tournament.
• In 1988–89 season, he led the St John's Univ. team in field goals (236), foul shots (134), rebounds (246), blocked shots (311), points (606), and scoring average (19.5 point per game).

References

1. Hanley, Robert. "Reporter's Notebook; At Former Nets Star's Trial, A Tangle of Contradictions", The New York Times, February 29, 2004. Accessed December 20, 2007. "Five friends and four Harlem Globetrotters were in various parts of Jayson Williams's country home in Alexandria Township, N.J., when a chauffeur, Costas Christofi, was killed two years ago by a blast from a shotgun held by Mr. Williams."
2. Jones, Richard G. "Ex-Nets Star Faces Retrial for a Shooting at His Home", The New York Times, April 22, 2006, Accessed April 27, 2009. "Jayson Williams can be retried on a charge of reckless manslaughter stemming from the shooting of a limousine driver in 2002, a New Jersey appeals court ruled on Friday."
3. [1] Attorneys for Jayson Williams say the retired NBA star's convictions related to a fatal shooting should be thrown out because of prosecutorial misconduct.
4. [2]
5. [3]
6. Associated Press, "Former Net Williams Tasered By the Police", April 28, 2009, Accessed May 14, 2009.
7. BET, "Troubled Jayson Williams Busted for Alleged Assault"

External links

• NBA.com Profile
• Court TV's coverage of the Williams trial