New Jersey Storm owner Jayson Williams' upcoming trial on manslaughter charges has been postponed because an appeals court has agreed to consider dismissing the charges.

Williams' lawyers, Joseph Hayden and Billy Martin, filed a motion for dismissal late last year, claiming that prosecutors improperly conducted the grand jury investigation that led to the former NBA star's indictment on aggravated manslaughter charges.

An appellate panel will hear arguments on 12 March regarding the motion, pushing the trial back from its scheduled 18 February start date.

Trial judge Edward Coleman rejected the motion in December, ruling that the prosecutorial mistakes were not serious enough to warrant dismissal.

Hayden and Martin allege that the grand jury was told that Williams exercised his right to remain silent and that prosecutors suggested Williams was connected to organized crime.

Either act could lead the appeals court to throw out Williams' indictment on aggravated manslaughter, a more serious charge than the reckless manslaughter charge he originally faced. The upgrade tripled the maximum sentence Williams could receive.

The defense also claims that the grand jury was not informed that Williams was distraught after limo driver Costas Christofi was shot and that he tried to help him.

Williams currently faces 46 years in prison if convicted of all charges, including aggravated and reckless manslaughter, aggravated assault, evidence tampering, witness tampering, hindering apprehension, and fabricating evidence.

Prosecutors allege that Williams accidentally shot Christofi in the chest with a shotgun during a 14 February 2002 tour of Williams' estate in northern New Jersey, then attempted to make the shooting look like a suicide by discarding his bloody clothes and persuading other guests to mislead investigators.