Former NBA star Jayson Williams was sentenced to 5 years in Prison moments ago after pleading guilty to aggravated assault for the 2002 death of limo driver Costas "Gus" Christofi.
He is eligable for parole after he serves a minimum of 18 months in state prison, a sentence prosecutors had agreed to as part of the plea deal.
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.
| At Jayson William sentencing Christofis sister has a letter read to the court |
No comments:
Post a Comment