newjerseynewsroom.com

Must serve 18 months without parole for killing limousine driver

Former NBA basketball player Jayson Williams was sentenced to state prison Tuesday for the shooting death of limousine driver Costas "Gus" Christofi at William's Holland Township estate in 2002.

Williams was sentenced to five years in state prison, including 18 months of parole ineligibility, by state Superior Court Judge Edward M. Coleman in Somerville. The sentence was pursuant to the plea agreement Williams entered into last month with the state Division of Criminal Justice, according to Stephen J. Taylor, the agency's director.

Williams pleaded guilty on Jan. 11 to a charge of aggravated assault by recklessly causing bodily injury to another with a deadly weapon. That amended charge, which replaced the remaining reckless manslaughter charge in the indictment against Williams, carried a mandatory sentence of 18 months without possibility of parole as a gun offense under the state's Graves Act.

In addition, Coleman ordered Williams to serve a concurrent sentence of five years in state prison on the four charges of which he was convicted at trial in 2004 related to his attempt to cover up the shooting.

Deputy Attorney General Steven B. Farman, who represented the Division of Criminal Justice at the sentencing hearing, recommended the five-year concurrent sentence under the plea agreement. Williams agreed not to appeal the trial convictions.

"With this sentence, Jayson Williams is being held accountable for his criminal recklessness in the death of Mr. Christofi and for his attempt to cover up the crime," Attorney General Paula T. Dow said. "After eight years, Williams is finally going to prison for his senseless crime."

Williams was convicted at trial in Flemington of four of the eight charges in the indictment: tampering with a witness, tampering with evidence, fabricating evidence, and hindering apprehension or prosecution. He was acquitted of aggravated manslaughter, aggravated assault and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. The jury did not reach a verdict on the reckless manslaughter charge. The Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office prosecuted the case. The attorney general's office superseded the case in October at the prosecutor's request.

— TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM