Another Globetrotter takes the stand in Williams trial

<br>SOMERVILLE, N.J. (AP) _ Another Harlem Globetrotter who was in the bedroom on the night a van driver was killed by a single shotgun blast took the stand Monday as the manslaughter trial of former NBA

Monday, March 15th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

SOMERVILLE, N.J. (AP) _ Another Harlem Globetrotter who was in the bedroom on the night a van driver was killed by a single shotgun blast took the stand Monday as the manslaughter trial of former NBA star Jayson Williams entered its sixth week.

Globetrotter Paul Gaffney testified that he didn't know what had happened at first after the shotgun went off.

``Jayson was like, `Are you OK, are you OK? Please tell me you're OK,''' said Gaffney, who said he prayed for van driver Costas ``Gus'' Christofi after he was shot.

Earlier this month, the jury heard from two former Globetrotters, Benoit Benjamin and Chris Morris, who had been teammates on the New Jersey Nets with Williams before he retired in 2000.

They were also in the bedroom in the early hours of Feb. 14, 2002, and provided the first eyewitness accounts of the shooting. All four Globetrotters are to testify with immunity, since they initially told police they were downstairs at the time of the shooting.

Both Benjamin and Morris gave testimony supporting prosecution contentions that Williams handled the shotgun recklessly, snapping it shut while holding it in one hand before it fired.

The defense exposed some discrepancies in their accounts, and maintains that the shooting was an accident and that the weapon was prone to malfunction.

Williams and some friends had started their evening at a Globetrotter game in Bethlehem, Pa., from which Christofi, 55, drove the four Globetrotters to a restaurant near the Williams home.

Witnesses have said Williams drank up to three-quarters of a bottle of wine, and some scotch and Sambuca, during a four-hour dinner, before driving the Globetrotters to his 65-acre estate. Christofi drove some of the friends, who invited him in.

The prosecution has presented witnesses who said Williams wiped the gun down and tried to put it in they dying man's hands. The witnesses also said Williams persuaded others to lie that they were downstairs when Christofi shot himself.

Williams, 36, faces eight charges, including aggravated manslaughter and witness tampering, that could carry up to 55 years in prison. The least of the charges carries a penalty of up to 18 months in prison, but would likely result in probation.

Williams left the Nets after a decade in the NBA, unable to overcome a broken leg suffered a year earlier in a collision with a teammate. He was suspended from his job as an NBA analyst for NBC after the shooting.