New Jersey Storm owner Jayson Williams today pleaded innocent to charges stemming from the fatal shooting of limousine driver Costas Christofi at Williams' estate in February.

The plea, covering first-degree (aggravated) manslaughter and several obstruction charges, was entered by Williams' attorney, Joseph Hayden, during an arraignment in Superior Court in Flemington, New Jersey.

Williams did not speak during the arraignment and remains free on $270,000 bail. He faces forty-five years in prison if convicted on all counts.

The manslaughter charge, upgraded from second-degree (reckless) manslaughter by a grand jury, carries a sentence of up to thirty years. Other charges, including hindering apprehension, witness tampering, evidence tampering, fabricating evidence and aggravated assault, combine for the balance of the possible sentence.

The original reckless manslaughter charge remains in the indictment, punishable by five to ten years in prison if the trial jury rejects the more serious manslaughter charge, which requires prosecutors to prove "extreme indifference to human life."

Co-defendant John Gordnick, accused by prosecutors of evidence and witness tampering, also pleaded innocent. Free on $50,000 bail, Gordnick could spend twelve years in prison if found guilty.

The state's investigation is almost complete, acting Hunterdon County prosecutor Steven Lember said today. His office has turned over two packets of evidence to the defense, and soon will provide Williams' lawyers with a set of crime-scene photographs.

However, DNA analysis of Williams' clothing likely will not be complete until September, delaying the start of the trial until at least this fall. Both parties are expected back on 6 September for a pretrial status conference.

Hayden said after the arraignment that he may ask for a dismissal of the charges, claiming that some evidence seized from Williams' "Who Knew?" estate was beyond the scope of a warrant.

In the meantime, Williams will continue to operate the Storm as normal -- the National Lacrosse League is not expected to seek Williams' removal from the league unless he is incarcerated, and even at that point, the Board of Governors may find it difficult to force the former New Jersey Nets (NBA) star to sell the team.

Williams is accused of shooting Christofi with a .12-gauge shotgun in the early hours of 14 February, accidentally discharging the gun while recklessly handling it during a tour of his forty-room mansion.

Christofi, hired to drive Williams and several friends from a Harlem Globetrotters game in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to Williams' estate in Alexandria Township, New Jersey, was on the impromtu tour, as was every other guest.

After the shooting, prosecutors claim, Williams tried to wipe his fingerprints from the shotgun, then placed it in Christofi's hands to make the shooting look like a suicide.

Williams and Gordnick also allegedly encouraged the other guests in the house to conceal the host's involvement in the shooting.

A third defendant, Kent Culuko, reached a plea agreement in April and will testify that he helped Williams with the coverup.