An appeals court denied Jayson Williams' request to halt his manslaughter trial Friday, saying defense allegations of misconduct by a prosecutor did not warrant such intervention.

Williams filed the appeal after the trial judge refused to dismiss all charges. Superior Court Judge Edward Coleman said there were less drastic ways to correct evidence violations by lead prosecutor Steven Lember, including allowing Williams to call additional witnesses.

The two-judge panel in Morristown left open the possibility that the former NBA star could raise the issue again after the trial.

"Whether defendant is entitled to a remedy beyond that ordered by the trial court can be decided during any appeal that may be filed by defendant after the trial is concluded," wrote Appellate Judge Edith Payne.

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Also Friday, a former New Jersey secretary of state disclosed that he had asked for a state investigation of Lember's conduct. In a letter sent Thursday to the director of the state department of law and public safety, DeForest Soaries Jr., now senior pastor at First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in Somerset, wrote that the prosecutor's actions suggest Williams should never have been charged, nor tried.

Steven Lember

"There seems to have been a pattern of actions taken by this prosecutor that have undermined the principle of Jayson Williams receiving an unfair trial," wrote Soaries, who was secretary of state from 1999 to 2002.

Williams faces 55 years in prison if convicted of aggravated manslaughter and other charges stemming from the shooting death of driver Costas "Gus" Christofi Feb. 14, 2002.

Testimony in the two-month trial is set to resume Monday morning after a two-week delay.