Jayson Williams DWI Conviction
Jayson Williams entered a guilty plea on Friday to driving while intoxicated (DWI) when he crashed into a tree in January. After accepting his plea, the judge sentenced Williams to serve another year in prison after he finishes serving up to five years in prison for shooting to death his chauffeur in 2002.
Williams was arrested for DWI during the early morning of January 5 after crashing his Mercedes Benz SUV into a tree. Following the arrest, prosecutors said, blood alcohol testing revealed that Mr. Williams had a BAC of 0.19% (the legal limit is 0.08 percent.
Before entering his plea, Judge Rita Mella told Williams that she planned to give him the maximum sentence for the misdemeanor DWI—one year in jail—if he pled guilty. Mr. Williams still chose to admit guilt rather than exercise his right to a jury trial
“[The one-year sentence] seems excessive, but it’s a small price to pay if it helps to deter drunk-driving,” he said in Manhattan Criminal Court. “I’ll be the poster child for that if it’s going to save lives.”
Williams then apologized to the court, his friends, and family, including his ill mother, who was present. “It will never happen again,” said the former NBA star.
In addition to the extra year he’ll have to serve behind bars, the judge also ordered him to pay more than $16,000 in restitution to the city to replace the tree he damaged, and to repay a company that outfitted him with a tracking monitor following his convictions.
Mr. Williams, known for being one of the NBA’s best rebounders until his retirement in 1999, was in the national headlines after he shot and killed his limousine driver at his home in New Jersey.
The accidental shooting came under scrutiny after Mr. Williams was accused of torchestrating an attemtped cover up. Eventually, he was convicted of attempting to conceal the shooting and since has settled a multimillion-dollar wrongful death suit with the driver’s family.
He pleaded guilty to an aggravated assault charge in the shooting case just days after the January car accident.
His criminal defense attorney, Oscar Holt, expressed disappointment over the sentencing Friday, saying that Mr. Williams was harshly punished because he was a celebrity.
“This is the price Mr. Williams is paying for being Jayson Williams,” he said, rejecting the notion that the conviction in the 2002 shooting played a role.
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