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TagsFormer N.J. Nets star pleads guilty to drunk driving in N.Y.
BY ALICIA CRUZ
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
Former NBA star Jayson Williams' legal woes haven't ended although the former Power forward-Center for the New Jersey Nets is serving five years in state prison, including 18 months of parole ineligibility, for the 2002 accidental shooting of his limo driver, Costas "Gus" Christofi at his Holland Township estate.
Williams appeared in a Manhattan courtroom Friday for his January 5 drunken driving arrest after New York City police found the former NBA analyst sitting in the passenger seat of his Mercedes Benz SUV on the FDR Drive at 18th Street near the E. 20th St. and Ave. C exit after the car crashed into a tree.
Williams pleaded guilty to drunk driving and was immediately sentenced to one year in jail.
Police said Williams, 42, told them someone else was driving his vehicle and had left the scene before police arrived, but prosecutors have said surveillance video and testimony from eye witnesses will prove that the lanky hoopster was driving the vehicle and was alone.
One of the first officers to arrive on the scene of the early morning accident testified they smelled a strong odor of alcohol emanating from Williams, who suffered minor neck and facial injuries, at the scene.
The Ritter, South Carolina native refused a breathalyzer test at the scene, according to NY1, but Prosecutors said when he was tested at Bellevue Hospital, his blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit. Police later charged him with driving while intoxicated and he was arraigned from his hospital bed.
One of his lawyers, Oscar Holt III, told the Daily News that Williams wants to put the DWI case behind him so he "can continue to work on changing the course of his life."
Williams, who retired from basketball in 2000 was in the second year of a six-year, $86 million contract with the Nets when a leg injury forced him to retire.
His one-year sentence is to be served after he completes his current prison sentence.
