The Associated Press
FLEMINGTON, N.J. (AP) - A police officer accused of aiding in the attempted cover-up of a fatal shooting at the home of former NBA star Jayson Williams said Monday he wanted to fire his lawyer and act as his own attorney because his lawyer had once represented Williams, a prosecutor said.
The request by Bridgewater Township officer Eric Allena came on the day that jury selection in his trial had been scheduled to begin.
State Superior Court Judge Roger F. Mahon scheduled a hearing for Nov. 15 to determine if Allena could represent himself, Assistant Hunterdon County Prosecutor Katharine Errickson said.
Until then, Brian J. Neary remains Allena’s lawyer, she said.
Neary did not immediately return a message left Monday.
Neary represented Williams in 1994, when the center for the New Jersey Nets was charged with reckless endangerment and possession of a weapon after shots were fired at an unoccupied security vehicle outside the Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford.
Williams never admitted firing the .40-caliber handgun at the truck.
He spent the next year preaching gun safety to high school students and placing newspaper advertisements as part of a pretrial intervention program that helped him avoid a potential felony conviction. Williams completed the program a year later, and the charges against him were dismissed.
Allena faces charges of official misconduct and witness tampering. The charges stem from the fatal shooting of a hired driver at Williams’ mansion in February 2002.
Prosecutors charge that Allena, 30, of Morristown, called in sick to work the morning after Costas “Gus” Christofi was killed at the Alexandria Township estate, and then talked to several witnesses to the slaying.
Witnesses at William’s trial said the former All-Star snapped a shotgun closed, and then it fired once into the chest of Christofi, 55.
A Somerset County jury in April acquitted Williams, 36, of the most serious charge, aggravated manslaughter. He was also cleared of aggravated assault and possession of a weapon.
But the jury was deadlocked on the second charge, reckless manslaughter, and prosecutors intend to try him next year on that charge.
The jury convicted Williams on the four remaining counts, which stemmed from a failed attempt to conceal the shooting.
The defense maintained the shooting was an accident.