SOMERVILLE, N.J. — Lawyers for Jayson Williams infuriated prosecutors Monday by showing jurors in the NBA star's manslaughter trial a portion of a computer animation specifically banned by a judge as inaccurate and misleading.

"This was a very, very serious mistake," griped First Assistant Hunterdon County Prosecutor Steven Lember about the playing of the prohibited video, which depicts a wood chip causing a misfire in a gun like the one Williams used to shoot a chauffeur.

The slow-motion animation, about five seconds long, flashed onto two large video screens in the courtroom just as a defense gun expert finished walking panelists through another section of the graphic display approved by the judge.

Immediately after the wood chip image popped onto the screens, Lember jumped up to object and defense lawyer Billy Martin stepped in front of a video projector, blocking the jury's view of one of the screens. Superior Court Judge Edward Coleman hurried the panel out of the room and demanded to know why the wood chip was in the animation in violation of a ruling he issued last week.

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Martin said he was taken by surprise and that the defense had arranged to have the chip edited out.

"It was removed," said the flustered attorney.

Coleman shot back, "If it was removed, somebody put it back." He added, "It just didn't happen by itself."

Williams' defense contends debris like the wood chip caused the 12-gauge Browning Citori to fire Feb. 14, 2002, killing driver Costas "Gus" Christofi. A tiny chip was found inside the gun, but not on the firing mechanism. Coleman said last week that the animation was a "powerful" tool that might confuse jurors if it implied the chip was on the actual trigger mechanism.

The judge termed playing the wood chip segment of the animation "very prejudicial," but declined Lember's request that the entire six-minute animation be tossed out as evidence. Defense lawyer Joseph Hayden Jr. said he had not noticed the animation and that perhaps jurors had not seen the brief display.

An angry Lember snapped, "I'm sure the jury saw it" and the judge agreed. When jurors resumed their places in court, Coleman told them to disregard the images.

"At this time, there has been no testimony that the expert actually observed any chips ... in that location," he said.

The defense later suggested the animation file might have been mislabeled on a computer.

The animation was played as ballistics expert Richard Ernest spent a second day on the witness stand. The Forth Worth, Texas, consultant said his experiments on a gun similar to Williams' shotgun indicated that the gun's debris-clogged inner workings made it possible for a misfire to occur.

On cross-examination by Lember, however, Ernest admitted that he never got the actual gun used in the shooting to discharge without pulling the trigger.

Defense lawyers showed a computer animation to illustrate their misfire theory.

The prosecutor implied that the lab experiments were so convoluted as to be worthless "in the real world." In those experiments, Ernest manufactured wood chips and then used a stereo microscope and fine tweezers to force them into the gun's trigger mechanism. With the wood chip lodged in the gun's inner workings, the gun went off with much less pressure on the trigger.

The prosecutor suggested that less pressure was very different from not pulling the trigger at all.

"Even with the lengths to which you went to insert the wood chip in the mechanism, you still would need some force ever so slightly on the trigger," asked Lember.

Yes, Ernest conceded.

Williams' defense lawyers have said his finger was not on the trigger when it went off. One eyewitness said his finger was near the trigger, another said he actually pulled the trigger as he flipped the gun up toward Christofi.

Ernest admitted he never saw a wood chip on the firing mechanism when he inspected the gun, but hinted that the chip could have been destroyed when the gun discharged. He noted that the interior of the 10-year-old gun was covered with "wood dust."

During a contentious exchange, Lember accused the expert of presenting the jurors with possibilities instead of hard evidence of what actually occurred.

"Could" he said, referring to Ernest's speculation about the wood dust, "means maybe doesn't it?"

"Could means could," he replied.

The courtroom was crowded with Williams' supporters Monday. Before court started, about 30 people wearing signs reading "Justice for Jayson" and "Jayson Williams is a good man" paraded in front of the courthouse.

Williams, 36, faces 55 years in prison if convicted of aggravated manslaughter and other charges. The trial is now in its eighth week. The defense will continue presenting witnesses Tuesday.