'The facts will come out'

Jayson Williams' wife speaks about limo driver's shooting

Jayson Williams, wife, Tanya and attorney Joseph Hayden address reporters after a March 4 court hearing. AP

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- Jayson Williams' wife calls her husband "a good man" and says people should not rush to judgment about the shooting death at the former NBA star's estate.

"A very tragic accident occurred," Tanya Williams told The Associated Press in her first extensive interview since the Feb. 14 death of limousine driver Costas Christofi.

"Jayson doesn't read the newspapers, nor does he watch the TV, and so how things have played out in the media is of very, very little significance to us now. The facts will come out. That's what we know."

The 34-year-old Williams is charged with manslaughter in Christofi's death at Williams' 40-room mansion in Alexandria Township.

Prosecutors say Williams was recklessly handling his 12-gauge shotgun and that he tried to make the shooting look like a suicide.

Williams could get more than 24 years in prison. He is free on $270,000 bail. No trial date has been set.

"Our strongest desire is that people realize who Jayson is -- that he's a good man -- and that they don't rush to judgment," his wife said last week. She met him in college and they married about a year ago. She was out the night of the shooting.

The 6-foot-10 Williams was once among the NBA's best rebounders, but leg injuries ended his career and he retired from the New Jersey Nets in 2000. Since the shooting, he has been suspended from his job as an NBA analyst for NBC.

"Our strongest desire is that people realize who Jayson is -- that he's a good man," Tanya Williams said. Jayson Williams entered the NBA with a reputation for wildness and after-hours antics, which he played up in his 2000 autobiography.

His wife said he was fun-loving, but the wildness was exaggerated.

"Jayson has always been a big personality, so the times in which he did go out were reported," she said. "But if you look over the span of his career, it's very few times."

These days, friends say, Williams is more pensive than usual.

Marc Cooper, a businessman who befriended Williams at charity events, called Williams after the shooting.

"He's obviously very sad about what happened," Cooper said. "All he can do is talk about the limo driver and how tragic it was. He certainly didn't feel sorry for himself -- there's no self-pity there."

 

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