By Harriet Ryan Court TV
SOMERVILLE, N.J. The clothes hidden from police after Jayson Williams shot a chauffeur were stained with the dead man's blood and marred by a piece of the shotgun shell that killed him, forensic witnesses testified Tuesday morning at the former NBA star's manslaughter trial.
 | | DNA expert Andrew Nardelli testified that Jayson Williams had what appeared to be traces of gunshot shell on his shirt. |
A DNA expert from the state police laboratory told jurors that blood found on the right cuff of Williams' sweater and on the left rear pocket of his Armani slacks matched the genetic profile of driver Costas "Gus" Christofi. The profile, forensic scientist Maureen Low-beer said, was rarer than one in 208 billion people.
Her colleague, Andrew Nardelli, testified that a white particle on Williams' shirt was consistent with plastic filler in the shell fired by his 12-gauge shotgun.
Williams' friend, John Gordnick, testified last month that the retired New Jersey Net changed clothes and gave Gordnick the original garments to discard before investigators arrived at Williams' mansion on Feb. 14, 2002. Gordnick stashed the outfit on a highway underpass but later arranged to have it turned over to police.
Prosecutors claim disposing of the clothing was part of Williams' ill-fated plan to disguise the shooting as a suicide.
 | | Maureen Low-beer testified that blood matching the victim was on Jayson Williams' shirt. |
The scientists appeared to undercut part of that theory, however, in other parts of their testimony. Other witnesses have said Williams tried to place the shotgun in Christofi's hands in an effort to transfer his fingerprints to the trigger. But Low-beer said neither of the two DNA profiles she detected on the grip of the gun matched Christofi's, and Nardelli testified there was no blood on the gun. Christofi was bleeding profusely and had spots of blood on his hands.
Another DNA expert, Mitchell Holland, testified last week that a hand print on the barrel of the gun contained DNA that was consistent with Christofi's.
If convicted of aggravated manslaughter and seven other charges, Williams faces 55 years in prison. His trial is now in its sixth week. The one-time All-Star maintains the shooting was a tragic accident caused by a malfunction in the gun.
A state police ballistics expert who took the stand just before the lunch break is set to continue testifying Tuesday afternoon.
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