Tuesday - August 16, 2011

New Digs For The Murderer Down The Street

Ex-Net star Jayson Williams is preparing to move from a prison in rural New Jersey to Rikers Island.

He is expected to be transferred from Wrightstown’s Mid-State Correctional Facility next Friday after doing 18 months for aggravated assault. Then he’s to begin serving a one-year sentence for DWI in New York City.

Williams, 43, drove his SUV into a tree in lower Manhattan a week after accepting a plea deal in the accidental shotgun death of a limo driver in his New Jersey mansion in 2002.

Back in 2002 Jayson Williams, a resident of Alexandria NJ (right down the road here ... in Michigan, right Peiper?? ) was partying with his home boys and showing off, and snapped the action closed on a very expensive Browning Citori O/U shotgun. Which just happened to be loaded, and the gun “accidentally” discharged. Because $3000 shotguns are such crap you know.Limousine driver Gus Christofi, the only white guy in the house, just happened to be standing where the gun was pointing. As he lay on the floor bleeding to death, Williams and his pals panicked and tried to create a cover-up, at first trying to claim that the driver had committed suicide. The trial was a disaster, another OJ-ish deliberate fiasco, where it was “found” that the shotgun, utterly jammed solid with dirt, grease, and sawdust inside, might just actually have accidentally discharged. What wasn’t “found” was that that “forensic” examination was one of the most ham-handed and poorly done affairs ever. Which was just so convenient, that other people couldn’t resist playing that riff. And thus Williams got off, but the jury hung on the lesser charges.

(2/23/2010) ALEXANDRIA TOWNSHIP (actually Somerville NJ)—Former New Jersey Net Jayson Williams apologized in tears at his sentencing today for fatally shooting a limousine driver in 2002.

The 42-year-old retired athlete pleaded guilty last month to fourth-degree aggravated assault for the death of Costas “Gus” Christofi, 55, at the estate Williams owned in Alexandria Township.

“I know there’s nothing I can do to bring Mr. Christofi back,” Williams said to Christofi’s family. “I am deeply deeply sorry… I pray that today brings you some comfort.”

“To my family, please forgive me for the pain I’ve caused you,” Williams said, his voice cracking. “You deserve a better father, son, brother than I have been.”

As part of a deal, the State Attorney General’s Office asked Superior Court Judge Edward Coleman, sitting in Somerville, to give Williams 18 months in prison for the assault charge. The state also recommended up to five years in prison for trying to cover up the shooting that occurred in a bedroom of the Hunterdon County mansion. He would have to serve 18 months before he is eligible for parole.

Williams first went to trial in 2004, and a jury acquitted him of aggravated manslaughter, the most serious offense. He was convicted of the four charges related to the cover-up. Reckless manslaughter was the only charge on which jurors could not agree. He was slated to be retried this year, but pleaded guilty Jan. 11. During that hearing, Williams admitted that he pulled a shotgun from his gun collection on Feb. 14, 2002. He failed to check whether the safety mechanism was on, or if the gun was loaded, and he didn’t pay attention to where the muzzle was pointed. When he snapped the gun shut, it discharged and hit Christofi in the chest.

Sucks to be rich, don’t it? Murder a guy in cold blood, have your lawyers spin some fancy bullshit, have somebody else doctor the evidence, and you just about walk. 18 months for murder. But, gosh, Jayson has Found Jesus in jail, and preaches there daily. Hallelujah.

(news item from 2002) An autopsy on the body of the limousine driver gunned down in the New Jersey mansion of former NBA star Jayson Williams confirmed the death was not a suicide, a medical examiner said yesterday. But the ruling was little comfort to the grieving family of Costas (Gus) Christofi as they gathered for his funeral - while Williams remained out of sight.

Kneeling before the gray coffin holding her slain brother’s body, Andrea Adams shook as she quietly wept at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Piscataway, N.J. Christofi, 55, a bachelor who lived in Washington Township, N.J., was eulogized by Father John Theodosion as a man who turned his life around after a bout with drug addiction that landed him in prison.
...
Published reports have contended Williams accidentally shot Christofi as he haphazardly twirled a shotgun while giving friends a tour of the 40-room Alexandria Township home last Thursday.

(from the first trial) SOMERVILLE, N.J. - Limo driver Costas (Gus) Christofi was still breathing when Jayson Williams wiped his own fingerprints off a still-hot shotgun, a prosecution witness testified yesterday.

It was only after the former Nets star tried to press the dying man’s prints onto the 12-gauge, double-barrel Browning that a 911 call was made, said witness Craig Culuko.

The damaging testimony came during a day-long prosecution barrage against Williams, who is accused of recklessly shooting Christofi early Feb. 14, 2002, in the master bedroom of his rural New Jersey mansion, then trying to make it appear the man had committed suicide.

Witness John McPartland of Mahwah, N.J., said he was playing basketball on the retired NBA star’s indoor court when he heard a commotion upstairs.

He said when he reached the living room, a flustered Curly (Boo) Johnson, a member of the famed Harlem Globetrotters, told him, “Jayson shot the limo driver.

(more from the first trial) A drunken Jayson Williams angrily cursed at a limousine driver in his mansion before snapping closed a loaded shotgun - and fatally shooting the man, prosecutors charged yesterday.

“What the [expletive] are you doing in my mother[expletive] room, you [expletive] stoolie?” Williams asked the driver, according to a witness.

Another guest at the ex-Net’s elaborate New Jersey home told authorities the former NBA star called the driver a “mother [expletive]” seconds before the gun fired.

The stunning statements were revealed in court documents filed yesterday by prosecutors.

They provided the most detailed account yet of what happened the night Costas Christofi bled to death on Williams’ bedroom floor.

Me, carry a grudge? Not hardly. But I knew Gus, in passing. We both used the same gas station down the street here, and we’d chatted at the pumps a couple times. Have fun on Rikers, Jayson. Hope Jesus can save your ass in that place. Maybe your ex-wife will come visit when she’s not too busy being on a reality TV show. Don’t count on it.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/16/2011 at 12:45 PM   
Filed Under: • Crime •  
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