SOMERVILLE, N.J. — Jayson Williams stood by as his brother repeatedly told a 911 operator that a chauffeur shot by the former NBA star had actually committed suicide, according to transcripts of the frantic call played for jurors in the hoopster's manslaughter trial Tuesday.

"Oh my God, please hurry up, ma'am," Williams' brother Victor told a state police dispatcher after the Feb. 14, 2002, shooting at his brother's lavish estate.

"This guy just picked up a loaded gun and he didn't know what he was doing, picked it up and it just shot him in the chest."

Moments later, Victor Williams speaks to a man he addresses as "Jay." The apparent reference to the one-time New Jersey Net All-Star could not be clearly heard on tapes of the emergency call made public a year ago, but is included on transcripts made after state police used computers to enhance the quality of the recording.

The taped call is important evidence against Williams because prosecutors contend he shot Costas "Gus" Christofi while toying with a double-barrel shotgun and then coerced witnesses and tampered with evidence to convince investigators the death was a suicide. By all accounts, Victor Williams was asleep at the time of the shooting and had no firsthand knowledge of what happened.

If Williams is convicted, he faces 55 years in prison.

Jayson Williams, who now acknowledges he shot the driver, maintains the shooting was an accident and not a crime. He has paid the victim's family a civil settlement reported at $2.75 million.

Celeste Timberlake took the 911 call from Jayson Williams' brother.

Williams, dressed in a dark gray suit and maroon tie, stared down a copy of the transcript as his brother's panicked voice boomed throughout Judge Edward Coleman's courtroom. The 12 women and four men on the jury also focused closely on the document, although two jurors looked toward the defendant several times during the breathless recording.

"Ma'am, he's down on the ground. He's barely breathing," Victor Williams shouted at New Jersey State Police Operator Celeste Timberlake during the call.

At seven points during the tape, he either stated that Christofi shot himself or that the driver was handling the gun when "it shot him."

A male voice can be heard several times in the background. At one point, when the operator asks Victor Williams a series of questions, the male voice shouts, "Tell her to send somebody. Who f---ing cares about questions?"

Timberlake also testified that the call came in to police headquarters at 2:54 a.m., 14 minutes after the time prosecutors say Christofi was shot. The delay, they argue, is evidence of a cover-up. On cross-examination, defense attorney Joseph Hayden pointed to police records he said indicated the call was actually placed at 2:49 a.m. The dispatcher, however, said she was certain she fielded the call "at 2:54 or 2:56."

Images of the scene

Also Tuesday, two state police crime scene detectives testified about collecting evidence at the scene. Detective John Gurkowski told jurors he performed three different tests for fingerprints on the 12-gauge Browning shotgun, but could not recover a single print. Prosecutors have said Williams ordered his friend Kent Culuko to wipe his prints from the gun.

Gurkowski also showed jurors a video of Williams' mansion recorded hours after the murder. In it, Christofi's body lies crumpled on an oriental rug in Williams' master bedroom. The video camera slowly pans from the open gun cabinet, which still holds five guns, past a StairMaster draped with a mesh shooting vest to Christofi's body and finally the shotgun lying several feet away.

In this still from police video, the victim's body lies near the shotgun, top, and a StairMaster and guncase, right.

The detective testified that blood and possibly human tissue were found on the StairMaster and blood was found on the shooting vest. Three of the five remaining guns in the cabinet were loaded.

Christofi's sister, Andrea Adams, cried softly as the 55-year-old driver's body moved in and out of the shot.

The video also gave jurors a glimpse of the lavish lifestyle enjoyed by Williams, who once held an $85 million contract with the Nets. As Gurkowski narrated, the video camera floated through spacious rooms decorated with large bowls of roses, by his lagoon-style pool and into his indoor basketball court.

Grin or grimace? Detective John Gurkowski measured the shotgun against the dead man's arm.

Although there seemed to be little in the testimony for Williams' legal team to attack, defense lawyer Michael Kelly seized on a photo of Gurkowski taken during the autopsy. The macabre shot shows a portion of Christofi's body on the exam table with Gurkowski stretching out the victim's lifeless arm against the length of the shotgun. The pose, the detective said, was intended to show that it was physically impossible for the driver to have shot himself.

Kelly told the detective that it appeared as though he was smiling in the photo, but the detective said he was only struggling to hold the weight of the gun and the arm.

"No, sir, that's wincing in pain," Gurkowski said.