Report: Williams Handled the Gun

Former NBA player Jayson Williams, charged in the shooting death of a limousine driver at his New Jersey mansion, tried to put the victim’s palm print and fingerprints on the gun, Sports Illustrated reported.

Around the time the shooting was reported to authorities as an apparent suicide, Williams and two men also disposed of the bloody clothes the former New Jersey Net forward was wearing, a witness told the magazine in an article published this week. The magazine did not identify the witness.

Williams, 34, is charged with second-degree manslaughter in the Feb. 14 shooting death of Costas Christofi.

Prosecutors have said Williams’ adopted brother, Victor Santiago, initially reported the death as a suicide.

Christofi, 55, was hired to drive Williams’ friends from a Harlem Globetrotter game at Bethlehem, Pa., to a restaurant, and then to Williams’ estate 30 miles northwest of Trenton, N.J.

Not including Williams and Christofi, a dozen other people were at the house. They included Williams’ brother, two children and four Globetrotters.

Neither the prosecution nor the defense has described the events leading up to the shooting or identified those inside the mansion at the time.

Asked about the article, Steven C. Lember, acting Hunterdon County prosecutor, noted that authorities took the 911 call at 2:54 a.m., not 2:38 a.m. as the magazine reported.

“So that just proves that you can’t believe everything you read in an article,” Lember told the Associated Press.

Williams’ attorney, Joseph Hayden, told AP he would “address the relevant issues when we have our day in court.”

Williams’ agent, Sal DiFazio, refused to comment.

The magazine reported that the Globetrotters in the home were Chris Morris, Benoit Benjamin, Paul Gaffney and Curley Johnson.

Williams made an initial court appearance Monday on the manslaughter charge. He did not enter a plea and is not required to do so until a grand jury delivers an indictment.

Winter Sports

Exhausted by the demands that followed her stunning gold medal triumph at the Salt Lake City Olympics, Sarah Hughes has withdrawn from the World Figure Skating Championships, which will be held March 18-24 at Nagano, Japan.

Angela Nikodinov of San Pedro, who finished fourth at the U.S. championships, is the first alternate for the world team. However, her coach, Frank Carroll, said Nikodinov injured her arm during training and might not be able to step in for Hughes.

“She’s skating, but it’s difficult for her to pull in [to rotate on jumps] on one side,” Carroll said. “The problem is getting in enough run-throughs. We can’t make a decision right away. We have to take a couple of days.”

Hughes, 16, is the third Salt Lake City gold medalist to pull out of the world competition. Pairs co-gold medalists Jamie Sale and David Pelletier of Canada, also in high demand, withdrew last week. So did dance champions Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat of France.

The men’s Olympic medalists--Alexei Yagudin and Evgeny Plushenko of Russia and Tim Goebel of the U.S.--are scheduled to compete.

Olympic women’s bronze medalist Michelle Kwan of Torrance will defend her world title at Nagano. Olympic silver medalist Irina Slutskaya of Russia is also expected to compete. Fourth-place finisher Sasha Cohen of Laguna Niguel will make her world championships debut.

Unlike 1998 Olympic gold medalist Tara Lipinski, who left Olympic-eligible skating after her victory, Hughes plans to stay in the competitive ranks.

“I plan to spend the summer working to improve my skating performance and look forward to competing next year at the highest level possible,” she said in a statement released by the U.S. Figure Skating Assn.

The British Olympic Assn. said skier Alain Baxter, a 28-year-old Scot who won the bronze medal in men’s slalom at Salt Lake City, tested positive for methamphetamine after the Feb. 23 race and could be stripped of the medal.

The International Olympic Committee said it would hold a hearing on the case early next week.

Tennis

Top-seeded Andres Agassi overpowered Francisco Clavet, 6-3, 6-2, in the first round of the Franklin Templeton Classic at Scottsdale, Ariz.

Fourth-seeded Guillermo Canas of Argentina lost to Michel Kratochvil of Spain, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Serena Williams, who withdrew from the Family Circle Cup at Charleston two years ago to honor the NAACP’s boycott of South Carolina for flying the Confederate flag, has told officials she’ll play in this year’s tournament.

Williams will join defending champion Jennifer Capriati, Monica Seles and Anna Kournikova in the clay-court event April 15-21.

Miscellany

Larry Ivy resigned as Kentucky’s athletic director after a school panel reviewing the athletic department called for his removal.

The five-member panel reviewed the department after the football program was put on probation for three years and banned from a bowl game next season for NCAA rules violations.

Stock car driver Ricky Hendrick will have surgery today on the right shoulder, which he dislocated during a crash Saturday in the Busch Series Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas. He is expected to be sidelined for about six weeks.

Sweden’s Christian Olsson set a European indoor record with a triple jump of 58 feet 43/4 inches in his third attempt in the Eurojump meet at Goteborg, Sweden.

Olsson was 11/4 inches short of Cuban Aliecer Urrutia’s world indoor record.

DeeDee Jonrowe was the first to reach Nikolai, Alaska, in the Iditarod sled dog race, arriving at 7:54 a.m.