Former New Jersey Net Jayson Williams was sentenced today to five years in prison 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. Williams will have to serve a minimum of 18 months in prison before he is eligible for parole.
Williams today gave a teary-eyed apology to Superior Court Judge Edward Coleman.
“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.”
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 the five years in prison for trying to cover up the shooting that occurred in a bedroom of the Hunterdon County mansion.
The deputy attorney general, Steven Farman, asked Coleman to consider Williams’ character in the sentencing.
“After eight long years, it’s time for Mr. Christofi’s voice to be heard,” Farman said. “His only crime was that he was a sports fan.”
In a letter to the judge read to the judge, Andrea Adams, Christofi’s sister, said she endured eight years of watching Williams “partying around” as if her loss was “meaningless.”
“Jayson Williams has been treated like a king, and it has been tragic,” Adams said. “I believe Jayson Williams is a danger to society and should not be walking the streets.”
“Maybe then my brother can rest in peace,” she said.
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.
Williams has remained free on $250,000 bail and has spent the last few days tying up loose ends with his lawyers and spending time with his daughters, ages 7 and 5, said Akhtar Farzaie, his friend and manager. He has also made provisions for his charity work to continue, Farzaie said.
In addition, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office has charged him with driving while intoxicated for a Jan. 5 car crash. His blood alcohol content was 0.19, court papers say. If he pleads guilty, the district attorney will recommend a year in jail, consecutive to his New Jersey term.
The courthouse was abuzz this morning. Several television news trucks were parked outside, as shopkeepers across Main Street gawked at the spectacle. In front of the court building, a long line of photographers and reporters – most wearing rain coats, huddled under an overhang. Several dozen people slowly snaked their way through a line to a metal detector.
For Somerville, a town whose court had been host to celebrity cases in the past – and is no stranger to this one — it was the excitement they anticipated.
“I had expected it to be pretty big, even though this is old.” said Dennis Closs, who works in town and had stopped into the aptly named Courthouse Sub Shop on Main Street. “It is – all the news is here.”
