The Jayson Williams shooting was the February 14, 2002, killing of limousine driver Costas “Gus” Christofi at the former NBA star’s New Jersey mansion. Williams was acquitted of the most serious manslaughter counts in 2004 but convicted of covering up the death, and after nearly six years of appeals and prosecutorial scandal he pleaded guilty in 2010 to aggravated assault and served roughly 18 months in state prison.
What Happened That Night
Williams had spent the evening at a Harlem Globetrotters game at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, with his brother Vincent, four Globetrotters, and roughly ten guests. After dinner at the Mountain View Chalet in Hunterdon County, the group returned to Williams’ 30,000-square-foot estate on Woolf Road in Alexandria Township.1Lehigh Valley Live. Tragedy at NBA All-Star’s Legendary Party House: Recalling the Jayson Williams Saga
Christofi had been hired to drive the group. Shortly before 3 a.m., according to Williams’ attorney Joseph Hayden, Williams was giving a tour of the home.2MyCentralJersey.com. Jayson Williams, Costas Christofi Limo Driver Shooting Prosecutors said Williams pointed a loaded 12-gauge Browning shotgun at Christofi and snapped the weapon closed, causing it to discharge into Christofi’s chest. He was pronounced dead at 3:28 a.m.3Oxygen. Accident, Suicide, or Murder Features Costas Christofi Case
Who Gus Christofi Was
Christofi was 55, a bachelor from Washington, New Jersey, survived by a brother and a sister. He had spent eight years in prison between 1976 and 1988 on burglary and stolen-property convictions. After his final parole, he entered a residential drug-treatment program and later worked four years as a substance-abuse counselor.4Los Angeles Times. Jayson Williams Side Story At the time of his death he had been driving for Seventy Eight Limousine in Pittstown for 17 months and had completed 1,700 trips without a single complaint. At his funeral, parents of former clients credited him with helping their children overcome drug abuse.
The Cover-Up
Prosecutors said that in the minutes after the shooting, Williams tried to stage the scene as a suicide. He allegedly asked his friend Kent Culuko to wipe his fingerprints from the shotgun and reposition evidence, and asked another guest, John Gordnick, to dispose of the bloody clothes he had been wearing.5CNN. Williams Trial Williams reportedly told the Globetrotters and other guests to say they had been downstairs when the gun went off and to agree the death was a suicide. His brother Vincent called 911 and reported a “possible suicide.”
Both Culuko and Gordnick later pleaded guilty to evidence tampering, with Culuko also pleading guilty to witness tampering, and both cooperated with prosecutors in exchange for the charges being dismissed after their testimony.6New York Times. In Plea Deal, Friend Talks of Shooting by Nets Star Gordnick testified he hid the bloody clothes; Culuko testified he wiped Williams’ prints from the shotgun.
The Charges and the 2004 Verdict
Williams was charged with manslaughter on February 25, 2002. A Hunterdon County grand jury returned an eight-count indictment that May, charging aggravated manslaughter, reckless manslaughter, aggravated assault, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, witness tampering, evidence tampering, fabricating physical evidence, and hindering apprehension or prosecution.7New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Jayson Williams Sentencing The aggravated manslaughter count alleged Williams had acted with “extreme indifference” to the value of human life. Superior Court Judge Edward M. Coleman moved the trial to the Somerset County Courthouse in Somerville on a change-of-venue motion.
Defense attorney Joseph A. Hayden Jr. argued the shooting was a tragic accident. Judge Coleman blocked prosecutors from presenting two prior incidents they said showed a pattern of reckless gun handling: a 2001 incident in which Williams allegedly shot his dog and ordered a witness to bury it at gunpoint, and a 1994 incident at the Meadowlands where a pistol discharge struck a security vehicle.8CBS News. Ex-NBA Star Dodges a Bullet
On April 30, 2004, the jury acquitted Williams of aggravated manslaughter, aggravated assault, and the weapons charge, and convicted him on all four cover-up counts. On reckless manslaughter the jury deadlocked 8-4 in favor of acquittal, and Judge Coleman declared a mistrial on that count.2MyCentralJersey.com. Jayson Williams, Costas Christofi Limo Driver Shooting Sentencing on the cover-up convictions was deferred.
Why the Retrial Took Six Years
A central legal question went up to the New Jersey Supreme Court: could prosecutors use the cover-up evidence in a retrial to prove Williams’ reckless state of mind at the time of the shooting? The trial court and the Appellate Division had excluded it. In April 2007, the Supreme Court reversed and held the cover-up was admissible as “consciousness of guilt” evidence relevant to recklessness.9FindLaw. State of New Jersey v. Jayson S. Williams, 190 N.J. 114
A separate scandal then slowed things further. In 2007, Williams’ lawyers learned that William Hunt, a captain in the Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office who had worked on the case, had used a racial slur to describe Williams. Hunt admitted at a 2009 hearing that while reviewing footage of Williams handling a firearm, he had called him “a street n—–” during a meeting at the prosecutor’s office in early 2002 or 2003.10NJ.com. Former Hunterdon County Captain Admits Using Racial Slur Hunterdon County Prosecutor J. Patrick Barnes had learned of the slur in February 2003 but treated it as an internal “management issue” and did not disclose it to the defense. Hunt was suspended five days, denied a promotion, and given a reduced salary increase before resigning in 2005.11New York Post. Jayson Investigator Admits Using N-Word
The defense moved to dismiss on prosecutorial misconduct grounds. Judge Coleman held evidentiary hearings in 2009 and denied the motion, finding no evidence the slur had affected the investigation or deprived Williams of a fair trial.12NBC News. Jayson Williams Retrial Ruling The retrial for reckless manslaughter was scheduled for January 2010.
The prosecution team itself was coming apart during this period. Lead prosecutor Steven Lember, who had tried the 2004 case, resigned in 2007 after a disagreement with Barnes over disclosure of the slur. Katharine Errickson, who had been set to lead the retrial, was fired in January 2008.13New York Post. Prosecutor in Jayson Williams Case Fired Defense attorney Joseph Tacopina called it “clearly a prosecution in disarray.”
The Plea Deal and Sentence
Rather than face the retrial, Williams pleaded guilty on January 11, 2010, to an amended charge of aggravated assault by recklessly causing bodily injury with a deadly weapon. The charge carried a mandatory 18-month term without parole eligibility under New Jersey’s Graves Act, which governs gun offenses. Williams also agreed not to appeal his 2004 cover-up convictions.7New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Jayson Williams Sentencing
On February 23, 2010, Judge Coleman sentenced Williams to five years in state prison on the assault charge, with the 18-month parole-ineligibility period required by the Graves Act, and imposed a concurrent five-year sentence on the four cover-up convictions.14ESPN. Jayson Williams Sentenced to Five Years Williams served 18 months at a state prison facility in Wrightstown before being paroled.
The Wrongful Death Settlement
The criminal case did not resolve the civil claim. Christofi’s brother and sister filed a wrongful-death lawsuit, and the parties reached a $2.75 million settlement in state Superior Court in Hackensack, announced on January 31, 2003.15New York Times. Ex-Net to Pay $2.75 Million in Suit Over Killing As part of the proceedings, letters exchanged between Williams and the Christofi family were made public, in which Williams expressed sympathy and the family stated their belief that he had not intended to hurt the driver.16Los Angeles Times. Williams Settles Wrongful Death Suit
What Happened After Prison
Williams’ troubles continued after the 2010 plea. One week after the plea, he drove his SUV into a tree in lower Manhattan, pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated, and was sentenced to a year in jail. He served eight months at Rikers Island after completing his New Jersey parole, for a combined 27 months behind bars across the two sentences.17ESPN. Jayson Williams Released From Rikers Island Jail
Other incidents followed. In April 2009, New York City police used a stun gun on Williams at a hotel room after a friend reported he was acting suicidal; officers found empty prescription-drug bottles and noted he was “visibly intoxicated.”18Palm Beach Post. Ex-NBA Star Jayson Williams In January 2016, he was charged with misdemeanor drunk driving in Sullivan County, New York, after his Jeep struck a utility pole and flipped.19ABC7 New York. Ex-NBA Star Jayson Williams Charged With DUI in Hortonville Williams later entered a rehabilitation facility in Delray Beach, Florida, and has publicly said alcohol was at the root of his troubles: “If I had to think of what I would do different in my whole career, it’s that I never would have picked up a beer, bottle of vodka.”