Jayson Williams:  Not Gun Shy

There are a few basketball players throughout the NBA that have the name Jason Williams. Today's thug player is Jayson Williams, formerly of the New Jersey Nets, has been arrested several times on gun-related offenses. 

South Carolina native Williams played for a number of teams over the course of his career, including the Phoenix Suns, the Philadelphia 76ers and the New Jersey Nets.  His talent as a player made him a first round draft pick for the Suns when he came up for selection in 1990. His retirement in 1999 was due to injuries, not arrests, in a surprising twist.

He was arrested in 1992 for supposedly smashing a beer bottle or beer mug over the head of a fellow bar patron while out having a good time in Chicago. Those charges were later dropped, though they were a preview of violence to come.  It was only a few years later that he was arrested for discharging a firearm in the parking lot of Meadowlands Sports Complex. What was the firearm? A semiautomatic - hardly a light weight weapon.

By far his biggest gun related crime, and one he is still in a legal battle over, is the shooting of his limo driver, Costas "Gus" Christoli in 2004.  According to the arrest record, Williams was showing Christoli around his home while "playfully twirling" a loaded shot gun. If anyone is familiar with the size of a shotgun, it is highly unusual to "playfully twirl" something that long and heavy.

Williams was charged with a number of things, among them murder.  The jury acquitted him on the more heinous crimes he was charged with, bringing the charge down to reckless manslaughter. After reducing the charge, the jury was then deadlocked over a verdict.  they were unable to come to a decision regarding the reckless manslaughter charge, meaning that Williams is still facing a verdict on it to this day.

Williams is also embroiled in another trial. in the second trial he is charged with 4 counts of attempting to cover up the facts and circumstances of his limo driver's death.  In yet another law suit relating to the death, Christoli's family sued Williams in civil court for wrongful death.  Williams settled that case out of court to the tune of $2.75 million dollars.  Court TV has been following the ongoing Williams trials, and you can see their coverage of them here: http://www.courttv.com/trials/jaysonwilliams/

Williams is not the owner of a professional indoor lacrosse team, the Anaheim Storm, and has written a book about the NBA with journalist Steve Friedman called "Loose Balls: Easy Money, Hard Fouls, Cheap Laughs and True Love in the NBA".  In the book he describes additional incidents involving violence and near misses with handguns and fellow team mates that didn't come up in court or previous arrests.