It’s obvious that professional athletes and other well-known personalities get into their fair share of trouble from time to time. Drunken driving, driving under the influence of alcohol, prescription drugs or marijuana, even illicit or illegal drug DUIs are common. As a New Jersey drunk driving defense attorney, I and my colleagues represent numerous clients accused of these and other impaired driving offenses.
According to a news report, former Nets player, Jayson Williams, asked the court to toss out a DWI (driving while intoxicated) charge he received earlier not long ago in Manhattan. The NBA star claimed he had done nothing illegal and was simply sitting in his damaged Mercedes when local police arrested and charged him with driving under the influence.
The basketball star’s DWI defense lawyer filed a statement along with other documents explaining to the court that Williams “had not, was not, or was not about to do any act which constituted a crime.” According to reports, Williams is serving a five-year prison sentence in New Jersey after pleading guilty to aggravated assault for fatally shooting a limo driver in 2002.
In the drunk driving case, which remains open, prosecutors say they have evidence have William’s blood-alcohol content (BAC) was more than double the legal limit after his Mercedes-Benz sport utility vehicle rammed into a tree last January 5. According to news articles, the local district attorney had no immediate response to those papers.
According to police reports, the evening of the crash, responding officers found Williams bleeding from several cuts and sitting in the SUV’s front passenger seat. The former NBA star told the patrolmen that that he wasn’t driving and that the person who had been operating the vehicle had left the scene. Prosecutors claim that nearby surveillance video and eye witness accounts place the 42-year-old Williams alone in the car that night.
Although he has pleaded not guilty, if convicted of DWI Williams could face up to a year in jail, that is, after he finishes serving time for the 2002 assault conviction.
Jayson Williams asks court to toss NYC DWI case, DaytonDailyNews.com, March 22, 2010