BACK TO COURT FOR JAYSON WILLIAMS SECOND MANSLAUGHTER TRIAL!

A ruling by a New Jersey judge on Friday set the stage for a second manslaughter trial for former NBA star Jayson Williams.
His lawyers' latest attempts to clear Williams centered on a racial slur an investigator in the Hunterdon County prosecutor's office used to describe the basketball star, who is black.

The comment came in the months after the 2002 shooting of Costas (Gus) Christofi at Williams' central New Jersey estate.

The slur by former Capt. William Hunt, who is white, was made at a meeting of investigators but wasn't disclosed to the defense until 2007, when Williams was facing retrial on a reckless manslaughter count that had deadlocked the jury in 2004.

"There is no evidence that any racial bias affected the investigation," state Superior Court Judge Edward Coleman wrote. "There is nothing to indicate he did not receive a fair trial."

Williams was convicted in 2004 of covering up the shooting of Christofi, but he faces a retrial in January on the reckless manslaughter count.