Ex-NBA star Jayson Williams released from Rikers Island Former Nets player finishes sentence for DWI, flees in SUV
Ex-NBA All Star Jayson Williams sped off in a waiting SUV Friday morning after his release from a Rikers Island jail cell.
The 44-year-old former St. John’s center, who fatally shotgunned a limousine driver in 2002, was freed after serving an eight-month sentence for a January 2010 DWI charge.
He went directly to Rikers after serving 18 months in a plea bargain deal for the killing of Costas (Gus) Christofi inside Williams’ New Jersey $8 million mansion.
Williams — aka Inmate No. 08469159R — jumped from a city corrections bus into a waiting white SUV driven by a pal of the former All-Star.
The SUV zipped away before reporters could speak to Williams after his 9 a.m. release. City corrections officials confirmed that the 6-foot-10 Williams was released.
Friends of the hoops star say he underwent a jailhouse transformation, attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and leading a prison Bible study class.
Although he once signed a $90 million NBA contract, Williams was forced to sell his home and wound up destitute as he struggled in the years after the fatal shooting.
His wife is divorcing Williams, who attempted suicide at one point as his life fell apart.Williams paid the Christofi family a $2.75 million settlement for the killing, although the dead man’s sister continues to criticize the deal that provided him with the 18-month jail term.
lmcshane@nydailynews.com