Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

NBA Star Jayson Williams May Turn Himself In Today

Aired February 25, 2002 - 08:32   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. There is late word this morning that former New Jersey Nets basketball star Jayson Williams may turn himself in to authorities this morning, this, in connection with a shooting incident at his mansion in which a limousine driver was killed.

Let's get the very latest from Hillary Lane who joins us from the Hunterdon County courthouse in Flemington, New Jersey.

Good morning, Hillary, what is the latest?

HILLARY LANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well good morning, Paula.

The prosecutors here still are not talking. But we were able to reach this morning a nephew of Gus Christofi who was the limo driver who was killed back on Valentine's Day, and he was able to confirm for us that, yes, his mother and his brother did meet with prosecutors here at the Hunterdon County Justice Center and were told that Jayson Williams would surrender some time today to prosecutors.

At this point, the charge pending is manslaughter. What they were also told was there could -- there is a possibility of a more serious charge, but that would be determined at a later date.

Now all of this is stemming back to Valentine's Day when there was a killing near here in Hunterdon County at the home of Jayson Williams, and Williams apparently had hired Gus Christofi to drive himself and several friend to dinner and then back to Williams' home. What happened later there is uncertain, whether there was alcohol involved, whether there was gunplay.

Mr. Christofi bled to death, according to a report from the Hunterdon County medical examiner, and the cause of the death were gunshot wounds at midrange fired to the chest and to the abdomen.

So unclear at this point whether this was reckless behavior, whether this was a pure accident. Here in New Jersey, the prosecutor would need to prove that there was recklessness involved in order to win a conviction of manslaughter -- Paula.

ZAHN: Now, Hillary, there were a number of witnesses in that mansion, weren't there?

LANE: There were a number of witnesses in the mansion. And apparently what happened that evening was that police put these witnesses into separate rooms, talked to them about the story. There had been initial reports and an initial phone call, 911 call, which said that this was a suicide. Some of the witnesses reportedly told police that that was the case and then later on changed that story.

But then again, these are all unconfirmed reports. Until the prosecutor makes some sort of a more firm statement and outlines some of the evidence that he has in this case, those are still details that we can't be exactly sure of.

ZAHN: Well we know you're going to be keeping an eye on this for us, and we very much appreciate that late news. Thanks, Hillary.

Boy, Jack, the stories have changed so many times that what happened at that mansion, can't imagine what the prosecutors are up against on this one.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: It'll be interesting to see the way this thing unfolds.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com