A renowned forensics expert has joined the team defending ex-NBA star Jayson Williams against charges he killed a limo driver and then tried to cover up the crime with two men – one of whom is an alleged loan shark and bookie, The Post has learned.
Dr. Michael Baden, the expert, is the New York State Police’s chief forensic pathologist and ex-chief medical examiner for New York City.
Baden has a long track record of examining and testifying about evidence in celebrity homicide cases, such as those of O.J. Simpson and Claus von Bulow.
“I don’t want to comment,” Baden said yesterday.
New York City defense lawyer Thomas Puccio said Baden “makes an excellent witness . . . he can explain very complicated things in a simple way to the jury.”
Williams, 34, is charged with manslaughter in the Feb. 14 shotgun killing of Costas Christofi, a 55-year- old limo driver, at his New Jersey mansion.
On Monday, Williams and two friends were charged with conspiring to make the shooting appear as if it was a suicide.
Prosecutors say that Kent Culuko, 29, of Mahwah, N.J., helped Williams wipe the gun clean of fingerprints and tried to place Christofi’s prints on it.
They also say that John Gordnick, 44, of Rochelle Park, N.J., took the clothes that Williams was wearing when he killed Christofi and held them for two weeks before giving them to police.
Last year, Hackensack police arrested Gordnick on a theft charge after an auto-body shop owner said he stole $47,000 worth of equipment. The case is pending.
Sources said the accuser and his son told police that Gordnick was a loan shark who stole the items because he was owed money by the accuser.
The alleged victim’s son told cops that, after the theft, Gordnick said “I should leave matters alone if I knew what was good for me,” sources said.
Four men told The Post yesterday said Gordnick also is a sports bookie.
“He’s a loser,” one of the men said.
Gordnick’s lawyer refused to comment.