Jayson Williams, a former NBA star who was involved in a shooting in 2002 has been sentenced to serve 5 years in a federal jail. Williams is accused of shooting his former limo driver, Costas Christofi, in what most would consider accidental circumstances. The driver had been driving Williams and some teammates to the player’s house, where Williams offered a tour of the estate. During the tour, the NBA star began to tinker with a shotgun, which eventually fired at the driver. Considering the circumstances of the shooting, the court downgraded Williams’ charge from murder to manslaughter. The fact that he tried to conceal the murder was a factor the courts considered during the sentencing process. Sentencing was delayed from 2006, where a retrial on the manslaughter charges was pending. Due to changes in legislation, the courts were forced to deny Jayson Williams another hearing on the matter.

According to the terms of the sentence, Williams will be eligible for parole within 18 months, 6 months shy of two years. It’s nice to see that justice has prevailed to a greater or lesser extent in this case, and our condolences to the Christofi family for losing a family member. It’s saddening to see news stories like this, but accidents do happen and the finger always needs to be pointed somewhere.