Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Many Questions Surrounding Fatal Shooting at Home of Former Pro Basketball Star
Aired February 25, 2002 - 07:22 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Many questions this morning still surrounding the fatal shooting at the home of former pro basketball star Jayson Williams. Prosecutors aren't saying if Williams, who suffered a career ending injury a couple of years ago, is involved. It's believed that he was in some way.
But the Associated Press is reporting that Williams may surrender to authorities today and if he does could face a possible manslaughter charge.
The shooting happened February 14 in the bedroom of Williams' sprawling New Jersey estate. Limousine driver Costas Christofi was hit in the chest by a shotgun blast and bled to death before help could arrive. His death was initially reported as a suicide but it has since been ruled a homicide, albeit police have investigated it as an accidental shooting.
Prosecutors are trying to determine who pulled the trigger and whether or not the shooting was, in fact, an accident.
Joining us now from Miami, Florida, renowned criminal defense lawyer Roy Black.
Roy, nice to have you with us. Thanks for being here.
ROY BLACK, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Good morning.
CAFFERTY: What sort of situation is Jayson Williams likely to be faced with if, in fact, he surrenders, as is expected this morning?
BLACK: Well, homicide usually breaks down into two different categories. It can be murder, which, of course, is your intentional type crimes. On the other hand, there is manslaughter, which are crimes of recklessness, gross negligence, where somebody's doing an activity that's highly dangerous yet you don't intend to kill a particular person.
And the stories that are coming out here -- and of course we don't have all the facts yet -- say that Jayson Williams was either twirling his gun around and/or drinking and the combination of these led to the killing.
CAFFERTY: So even though it's possible the killing was entirely accidental, something that no one intended, Jayson Williams could, in fact, be looking at a long stretch in prison, couldn't he?
BLACK: Absolutely. You know, the best analogy here is a DUI manslaughter. If you get into a car and drive and you're over a particular level of alcohol, you're going to be charged with manslaughter. The same thing as if you play with a gun when you've been drinking. That's a dangerous situation. Or if you're just doing something extremely negligent, you know, like twirling the gun. Or if you're playing Russian roulette. There are many situations here in which you could be held liable.
CAFFERTY: In his autobiography, Jayson Williams, among other things, recounted several instances where he admits to being careless in the way he handled firearms. Is that the kind of thing that could be used against him if this comes to trial?
BLACK: Yes, this is the kind of situation where you're going to have to eat your words. I mean Mr. Williams wrote a highly entertaining autobiography about drinking and a couple of times involved in shootings, almost shot one of the New York Jets football players at his estate. So these things are obviously going to be used by the prosecutor to show a long string of reckless acts.
CAFFERTY: How do you go about defending him if you were asked to? What would be your strategy if you had to go into court and defend him on these charges?
BLACK: You know, that's a really tough question because we don't know much about what's going on here. You know, not much of the facts have really come out of the prosecutor's office or the police station. So we really don't know. But you're obviously going to have to claim this is just a tragic accident, nobody intended anyone to be killed, that nobody was acting extremely recklessly, you know, mistakes may have been made but it's not something to send someone to the state penitentiary for.
CAFFERTY: Now, the two charges as they're being described in the newspapers this morning are either reckless manslaughter or aggravated manslaughter, the two possibilities that he could be charged with. What's the difference between those two?
BLACK: Well, you know, a reckless conduct means you're just that, you know, you're acting, doing something dangerous and someone is killed. And it's almost like, it's not that you have the intent to hurt somebody, but you know the activity is so dangerous that somebody might be. Aggravated is just going to be a higher form of that.
CAFFERTY: All right, Roy, I appreciate you being with us. Thanks for your input on this this morning and for joining is here on AMERICAN MORNING.
BLACK: My pleasure. Thank you.
CAFFERTY: All right, Roy Black joining us from Miami.
The newspapers reporting that on the lesser of the two charges, the reckless manslaughter, if he's convicted he could do five to 10 years in a New Jersey state penitentiary.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
