NJ Paper Seeks 911 Tape of Jayson Williams Call

By: Joe Strupp The Courier News in Bridgewater, N.J. -- seeking a tape of a 911 call made from the home of former NBA star Jayson Williams on the night he allegedly killed a limousine driver -- will have its request heard by a three-judge state appeals court, the panel ruled Thursday.

The Gannett Co. Inc.-owned daily took its request to the appeals court after Superior Court Judge Edmund Bernhard of Hunterdon County, where Williams is on trial for aggravated manslaughter, declined the request.

"We are somewhat encouraged," Courier News Executive Editor James Flachsenhaar said about the court's willingness to hear the request. "I think our chances are 50-50."

The newspaper sought the tape under the state's Open Public Records Act, which went into effect last summer.