SOMERVILLE, N.J. — Lawyers for Jayson Williams claimed Thursday that misconduct by a prosecutor in the former NBA star's manslaughter trial is so severe that a judge should dismiss all charges and bar him from ever being tried again.

"Mr. Williams will never be able to overcome such intentional misconduct by the prosecutor in this trial or any trial in the future," defense attorney Joseph Hayden Jr. wrote in court papers filed Thursday.

In the filing, defense lawyers accuse lead prosecutor Steven Lember of purposefully hiding evidence pertaining to the gun that killed a chauffeur at Williams' mansion.

Superior Court Judge Edward Coleman halted the athlete's trial Monday after Lember acknowledged that he had failed to turn over photographs and notes from a prosecution expert's examination of the gun. The delay came on what was to be the final day of testimony in the two-month trial.

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The judge is scheduled to hear arguments Monday morning about what punishment is appropriate for the prosecution.

Lember maintains that his failure to disclose the materials was an inadvertent oversight and that, at most, the defense is entitled to reopen its case.

But in their court papers, Williams' attorneys insist the prosecutor's actions were intentional. They assert he was trying to conceal the expert's inspection of the 12-gauge Browning Citori shotgun and mislead the jury. The defense suggests the expert may have tampered with the weapon.

"Bear in mind what we are talking about here is a secret examination of the most critical piece of evidence in the case," Hayden wrote, adding that the examination was even more suspect because it occurred at the hands of Larry Nelson, the chief engineer of Browning Arms "the company with the most at stake regarding the reputation of the gun in questions."

Gun expert Larry Nelson is at the center of defense claims of prosecution misconduct.

Williams contends the shotgun discharged on Feb. 14, 2002, killing driver Costas "Gus" Christofi because debris in the weapon's firing mechanism caused a malfunction.

The defense was aware that Nelson examined the gun a year after the shooting, but says it did not know he disassembled the gun until the day before he was to take the witness stand as a prosecution rebuttal witness.

Lember told jurors he objected to a defense expert's dismantling of the gun and elicited testimony from a police ballistics examiner that taking the weapon apart could alter evidence.

In the papers, Hayden wrote that Nelson's examination was much more invasive than the one previously done by a defense expert and implied that the expert may have destroyed tiny pieces of wood and other debris that could have caused a misfire.

The defense also claims that Lember violated a standing agreement that gun experts hired by Williams would be present any time the gun was tested.

Lember and Williams' legal team have clashed on several other matters, and the prosecutor has complained about personal attacks and "punching bag" treatment. The defense accused him of violating Williams' rights during grand jury proceedings and of excluding black men from the jury.

The undisclosed evidence, Hayden wrote, is "part and parcel of a continuing pattern of win-at-all cost mentality."

"Mr Lember's 'unrelenting' desire to reach trial and obtain a conviction could lead a person to speculate and opine that he may have ulterior motives for this to be his 'swan song' before writing a book," Hayden wrote.

If Coleman allows the trial to go forward, testimony is set for Tuesday morning.

Williams, 36, faces 55 years in prison on aggravated manslaughter and other charges.