Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

'Sports Illustrated' Pieces Together Surprising Allegations in Jayson Williams Case

Aired March 06, 2002 - 09:48   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: And joining us now with his perspective on the Jayson Williams case, CNN contributor Keith Olbermann.

Welcome.

KEITH OLBERMANN, CONTRIBUTOR: Thank you, Paula. Wish I could be here under better circumstances, but thank you.

ZAHN: Yes, I guess it's hard for you to believe after all of your years in this business that we have never actually sat side-by- side on a set before.

OLBERMANN: Here we are.

ZAHN: Let's go back to the Jayson Williams case. You have carefully reviewed the "Sports Illustrated" article. You have also and talked with someone very close to Jayson Williams. What have you learned?

It begins to look like the information is coming out, and wherever the actual source is anybody's guess. And the information coming out because, and this is from professional associate of Mr. Williams, that they are trying to get him to plead to something. This whole prosecution so far has been deliberate, slow paced, and the denial from Mr. Limbber (ph) of the "Sports Illustrated" story was limited to, they got the time wrong of the 911 call.

ZAHN: So it's not like he denied, no, my client didn't change his clothes, my client didn't do this, my client didn't do that.

OLBERMANN: No, the Williams lawyer has had nothing to say about it. The prosecutor has merely referred to, you know, 16 minutes wrong on one detail of story. He might have well said, yes, all this is true, and it changed the dynamic of it, and the reputation of Williams in one fell swoop. Suddenly, he looks less like another victim in this case, and more like someone who had the presence of mind to try to make it look like a suicide 15 or 20 minutes or less after the accident took place.

ZAHN: How believable is this account in "Sports Illustrated?"

OLBERMANN: Well, I have written for "Sports Illustrated," and I have been written about in "Sports Illustrated," and they may make a mistake like everybody else, but something of this magnitude, you could not get it into the magazine without it being correct. They're too many lawyers to pass through.

ZAHN: So if it is true, what is the possibility this second- degree manslaughter charge would be upgraded?

OLBERMANN: Well, clearly, if it's true, there's evidence tampering, and there was crime scene tampering, and there was an attempt to misdirect, and there was a fake phone call on the part as the magazine -- as the prosecutors confirm 911 call by Williams' brother. There are also -- all sorts of additional charges that could come into play, and that takes us back to the idea of sort of public pressure being put on Jayson Williams to plead what is on the table right now.

ZAHN: In spite of what we're hearing about these potential tampering charges, no one is saying that this is anything but accidental shooting.

OLBERMANN: Correct.

ZAHN: Are they?

OLBERMANN: No, no one is saying that. And I spoke to one of his former bosses in television the other day, Monday, before all this came out, and they said, the man said, as everybody has said about Jayson Williams, he is a great guy who has had this one flaw, and it caught up with him and cost a man his life, but nobody has said, you know, that there was anything but an accident involved here. It is now a question of what happened after the accident and what was done. You know, did Jayson Williams behave in a panicky state? Was he clearheaded? Did he begin a Watergate-like attempt to cover this up, and take a dead man's hand and put it on a rifle. That's the issue right now.

ZAHN: And now that we learned two of the Harlem Globetrotters who witnessed the shooting have been granted immunity, can we make the assumption they perhaps are the two men who supplied this information to "Sports Illustrated?"

OLBERMANN: If you suspect, there's some chain from the prosecutor's office through the witnesses to the reporters, that's an excellent assumption that those are the guys since they're the ones who've been granted immunity. The second level of course of this for a sports fan that two of these Harlem Globetrotters are former NBA players, named Chris Morris and Benoit Benjamin, which adds an extra added salacious quality to it for a sports fan. So know you have all of that being dragged into this, where this was a lot simpler of a case on Monday morning than it is now.

ZAHN: Stand by. We want to bring another person into this discussion. Jayson Williams. of course, wasn't the only athlete who has owned a gun, and in a recent "New York Times" article, one sports agent, who represents a number of pro football players estimated that as many as 90 percent of his clients now own guns post September 11th. So why are so many sports figures today arming themselves? Well, Karl Malone is pro-basketball star with Utah Jazz. He's also a proud gun owner and a gun advocate, and also has some very strong views about gun safety. He joins us now from Salt Lake City.

Nice to have you with us. Welcome.

KARL MALONE, UTAH JAZZ: Thanks, Paula, Keith. How are you guys doing?

ZAHN: We're doing great. Wish we didn't have to analyze this case, wish this case never happened.

But let's come back to whole issue of gun safety, and your reaction to sports agent talking about number of NFL players, at least the players he represents, now carrying guns. Is it justified?

MALONE: Well, I can't comment on those guys. I'll say I'm from a little town in Louisiana, Summerfield, Louisiana. And I grew up from the time I was seven, eight years old, me and my brother, Terry, Hunting, so I grew up with the love of guns from my grandpa, my mom and all of that, and that's basically how we went out and had fun. But it was with respect.

We started out with a Daisy BB gun, up to a 410, up to the guns I have now.

I'm an avid hunter, but I say this right now, if you're getting a gun and you're only getting it because if you get into a confrontation, you want a gun, I think that's the wrong reason to have a gun.

I can't comment on how many players have guns and things like that. But I will say that if you do the proper safety training for a firearm, I think accidents can be 100 percent avoided. I don't think any gun get legs and go and do some tragedy to somebody unless you use that gun.

And just because someone have a gun don't say they have the right to know how to use it. And so many times you will see people celebrities, athletes, whoever, they get a gun because sometime maybe threats been made on them and things like that. I own guns and I have a concealed weapons permit, but not one confrontation I had I thought about my gun. That's the wrong thing. I think our law enforcement officials need them without a doubt. I think you seen that by the tape that was on TV in L.A. at one time.

But I am a hunter, avid hunter, outdoorsman, and those things I use for protection of family, and that's basically it, but you've got to have the proper places to put a gun. Everyone that comes to your house, you don't go show them your guns. Those things are sacred. Those things are private, and that's why you kind of keep them locked away, and I got young kids and private that's why you kind of keep them locked away. And I got young kids as well.

ZAHN: I think those are very important things you bring up. But since 1995, some 20 well-known sports figured have been arrested on gun-related charges. I'd like both of you to quickly react to this headline or from this piece in "The Orlando Sentinel." We're going to put a little portion of this up on the screen now. And this is Mike Beyonte (ph), a columnist, saying, "Think back to the last time you read this headline. 'Athletes uses gun to ward off attacker.' You can't. You've never reed of an athlete doing anything good with a gun. That's why it boggles the bind that the allure of carrying a deadly weapon captivates so many professional athletes."

Karl, quick reaction to that, and then Keith will close us off?

MALONE: My whole thing is a gun is just like a lot of other things. If you respect them, you can have great recreation with them. If not, they don't give you second chances like a lot of things do. But I'll say this, everyone with a gun don't need a gun and that's how I'll sum it up.

ZAHN: Karl, we'll have to leave it there this morning.

Keith, a quick final thought.

OLBERMANN: I think Karl is absolutely right. I think about this about people who have money and time, and not time to attend to the issue of responsibility. It just happens to be about guns, and in this case, it ended with a loss of somebody's life.

ZAHN: We have to leave it there this morning.

Keith Olbermann, appreciate you dropping by, and, Karl Malone, thanks for getting up so early for us this morning.

MALONE: Thank you, guys.

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