Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Williams' Friend Admits to Tampering with Evidence

Aired April 26, 2002 - 07:18   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: Now back to that developing case against former NBA star Jayson Williams. His friend and co-defendant is turning state's evidence and plans to testify against Williams. In court yesterday, Kent Culuko pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence and witnesses on the night in February when a limo driver was fatally shot at Williams' New Jersey mansion. Williams is charged with manslaughter in the death of Costas Christofi.

For the very latest, CNN's Deborah Feyerick joins us from outside the county courthouse there in New Jersey -- good morning, Deborah.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

Well, Jayson Williams' friend admitting that he wiped the fingerprints from the gun used to kill the 55-year-old limo driver, his lawyer not saying exactly where Kent Culuko was in the house the night of the shooting, whether or not he was in the master bedroom with Jayson Williams and the limo driver when the gun went off.

The lawyer describes that night saying it was total chaos, that everyone was panicking, that after they called 911 and found that the situation was hopeless that allegedly Jayson Williams was the one who urged his friends to make it look like suicide.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN LACEY, KENT CULUKO'S ATTORNEY: It happened very quickly and they attempted to perform some measure of first aid, obviously unsuccessfully. They called 911 at the same time and the victim expired very quickly. So it was after he had expired that these events concerning tampering had occurred.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: The friend's lawyer, John Lacey, says this was a horrific accident. He says later the same day his client went to detectives and told them that this wasn't a suicide, that, in fact, it was an accident. Now, Culuko apparently spoke to Jayson Williams even a couple of days ago and it was with Jayson Williams' urging that basically he said that he should tell prosecutors the truth, to cooperate truthfully, he said.

Now, Williams is facing charges of manslaughter, evidence tampering, witness tampering. Culuko, meantime, basically faces no jail time but will have to do 250 hours of community service. Williams' spokeswoman says that when the grand jury convenes and if charges are handed up that, in fact, Jayson Williams intends to plead innocent -- Paula.

ZAHN: So, Deborah, how did Kent Culuko know Jayson Williams?

FEYERICK: Well, apparently they're friends from the New Jersey area. Kent Culuko played professional basketball in Europe, but also he played professional lacrosse on the team that is owned by Jayson Williams.

ZAHN: All right, that makes sense.

Deborah Feyerick, thanks so much for the update.

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