SOMERVILLE, N.J. — Famed criminalist Henry Lee testified for the prosecution in Jayson Williams' manslaughter trial Thursday, but he failed to answer the primary forensic mystery in the former NBA star's shooting of a chauffeur.

Echoing the accounts of eye witnesses, Lee said his partial reconstruction of the shooting scene indicated Williams shot driver Costas "Gus" Christofi at a close range while the victim was standing and facing him.

But Lee offered no explanation for one of the most puzzling aspects of the case: the steep trajectory of the gun shot. According to the medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Christofi, pellets blasted from the 12-gauge shotgun entered his right side midway between his chest and abdomen at a severe angle.

That upward path is baffling because Williams, who is 6 feet 10 inches tall, dwarfed the 5-foot, 6-inch Christofi.

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Hunterdon County Medical Examiner Steve Diamond told jurors last month that he believed the angle was the result of Christofi striking a "defensive" pose — cowering backwards and raising his hands in front of him — before the shooting.

Diamond, however, later acknowledged that he could not guarantee the conclusion to a reasonable degree of medical certainty — the standard for such expert testimony — and Superior Court Judge Edward Coleman instructed jurors to disregard the conclusion.

Defense lawyers, who have not provided their own explanation for the angle, have suggested that if Christofi were standing up straight, the gun barrel would have to be on the floor to create such a trajectory. Witnesses have said the weapon discharged when Williams snapped it up toward his waist.

The 35-year-old, former New Jersey Net faces 55 years in prison if convicted of aggravated manslaughter and other charges.

Prosecutors contend he was reckless when he toyed with the weapon while giving guests a tour of his mansion on Feb. 14, 2002. Williams maintains the shooting was a tragic accident that occurred when the gun malfunctioned just as Christofi surprised Williams by entering the master bedroom.

Expert Witness

Prosecutors contacted Lee, former commissioner of the Connecticut State Police Department and chief emeritus of its laboratory, to consult on the case in February 2002 — before Williams had been charged with the crime.

Lee testified that prosecutors asked for his opinion on specific areas of the shooting, including trajectory. However, First Assistant Hunterdon County Prosecutor Steven Lember did not ask Lee about the gunshot angle during his turn on the stand.

Instead, the prosecutor asked questions that appeared designed to undercut Williams' claim that Christofi had just walked into the room at the time of the shooting. 

Lee said that in his recreation of the incident, the shooter and the victim were facing each other and Christofi died where he fell — well inside the door to Williams' bedroom. He said that based on blood droplets on Christofi's pants, the chauffeur was "standing or partially standing" when wounded.

The scientist also told jurors that the size of the wound indicated that the tip of gun barrel was approximately 6 to 18 inches from Christofi's chest when the gun discharged, meaning Williams was standing about 4 or 5 feet from him.

Using enlarged photographs of Christofi's body, Lee pointed out spots of blood on Christofi's hands, a hunting vest and the molding of a door. He said the spots were spatter caused by the high-velocity impact of the shotgun blast. The spots on Christofi's right hand, Lee said, indicated that palm was near the wound at the time of the shooting.

He also noted a smudge on Christofi's hand and said it was evidence that his body had been touched after the shooting. Lee also told jurors that the gun, which police found on the floor near the wall of the bedroom, had been moved.

Neither of these statements could have surprised jurors. A string of witnesses have already testified that Jayson Williams tried to place the gun in Christofi's hands in a doomed effort to make the shooting appear a suicide.

On Cross-Examination

After Lember finished his line of questioning, defense attorney Michael Kelly suggested Lee, known for his work in the cases of O.J. Simpson, JonBenet Ramsey and the assassination of John F. Kennedy, had not performed a thorough review of the shooting.

Lee admitted he had never tested Williams' clothes for gunshot residue and never inspected the clothing personally. Lee said he trusted the work of the New Jersey State Police, who, he said, told him there was gunshot residue on Williams' garments.

Kelly also noted that Lee never examined the clothing of key prosecution witness Benoit Benjamin. The former teammate of Williams testified he was looking over Williams' shoulder and saw him pull the trigger.

The defense lawyer asked if gunshot residue would be present if Benjamin was standing as close as he claimed.

"Not necessarily," Lee said.

When pressed on the alleged omissions, Lee said that despite retiring three times, he still puts in 18-hour days and limits his work on a case to the issues specifically requested.

"You are saying you didn't have time?" Kelly asked.

"No," Lee said, adding that the prosecution never asked him to review the clothing and that it was not necessary to his conclusions.

"I did not take this lightly," he insisted later.

Lee has testified in thousands of cases around the country and his experience as a witness and public speaker shone through. He smiled and greeted the jury as he entered the courtroom, swiveled the witness chair toward them as he began to answer questions and carefully enunciated his responses to combat the heavy accent of his native Taiwan.

Lee's self-deprecating remarks, including his reference to once teaching kung-fu, had the panelists and the defendant chuckling throughout the testimony.

Genetic Links

Jurors also heard from a DNA expert who tested a swab of a handprint on the barrel of the shotgun.

Mitchell Holland of Virginia's Bode Technology Group said he performed two types of genetic testing on portions of the swab. Nuclear DNA testing provided inconclusive results, but the less precise mitochondrial DNA method detected the genetic profiles of at least three different people, Holland said.

When he compared those profiles to blood samples from Williams and Christofi, Holland said, "neither Mr. Williams, nor Mr. Christofi could be excluded as being part of that mixture."

Holland said that while the results were far from positive identification "it's strong circumstantial identification." Four witnesses have testified Williams placed the gun in Christofi's hands after wiping it of his prints.

Under cross-examination, Holland acknowledged an expert at another lab consulted by the defense had tested other portions of the same swab and ruled out Christofi's genetic profile as a contributor to the handprint.

He said that because "different portions of swabs can have different amounts of DNA," it is possible both results are accurate.

The trial will resume Monday.