( CNN ) -- A little over a week ago nearly every media outlet was fixated on Tiger Woods and his apology news conference . We saw pundits , columnists , journalists , radio talk show hosts , psychologists , body language experts , entertainers and anyone with an opinion weigh in on the sincerity of Tiger : Was he really sorry for committing adultery , should he apologize further and hundreds of other angles . Some even described him as a fallen athlete who will lose millions of endorsements and a man who has destroyed the trust he built up with his fans . I even heard one woman say she needed Tiger to apologize , yet could n't articulate why it mattered so much to her , especially since she was n't his wife , kin to him , and was n't a family friend . Yet if there was ever one athlete we could truly place in that category of fallen athlete , it would be former NBA star Jayson Williams . While Tiger brought shame on himself and his family by his admitted extramarital affairs , he has broken no laws , and what he did does n't affect us at all . Yet Williams is another matter . This week , he was led away in handcuffs after being sentenced in a New Jersey court for fatally shooting a limo driver on February 14 , 2002 . Some carried his sentencing live . Yet most networks ignored his case , which ended eight years of courtroom drama . Frankly , if there was a case that is instructive to kids who look up to athletes , it 's Jayson , not Tiger . Jayson Williams was a gregarious and fun-loving man who could light up the court . After injuries took their toll and ended his NBA career , he was a rising TV analyst with NBC , a playful man with a big heart . I 'll never forget watching him on `` Oprah '' with his dad as they talked about building his huge mansion , how it was a place where hundreds of kids traveled through as a result of his charitable endeavors and how he had a zest for life . But that all ended on the night the life of Costas Christofi ended . After a dinner , Williams returned to his home and was showing several folks his many guns when he snapped his double-barreled 12-gauge shotgun shut . Williams did n't realize it was loaded , and a single bullet hit Christofi in the chest . A panicked Williams put the gun in Christofi 's hand , and even jumped in his pool , hoping to wash away the evidence . Williams was acquitted of aggravated manslaughter and convicted on four counts of coverup . He settled with Christofi 's family for $ 2 million , all while the case went back and forth through the legal system . While that was happening , Williams began to lose it all . His wife filed for divorce ; he was hit with a stun gun by police after an encounter ; he crashed his vehicle in another incident and threatened to kill himself . Williams was a man who fell victim to alcohol and guns , a deadly combination . He was sentenced to five years in jail and is eligible for parole in 18 months . Everything he had -- money , fame , budding TV career , marriage , friends , respect -- all lost because of the horrible decisions he made one fateful night . Jayson Williams did n't achieve the level of fame as Tiger Woods , but we can surely learn more from his fall from grace than Tiger 's . The former killed a man , the latter cheated on his wife . Both morally wrong , only one legally wrong . Tiger will undoubtedly return to the golf course one day . Sure , he can fret about losing millions in endorsements and may have to confront losing his wife . But Williams must forever live with the memory of a man dying as a result of his actions . We all may want to focus on Tiger , but it 's the tragedy of Jayson Williams that should have all of us talking and examining what went wrong in the charmed life of a basketball star . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Roland S. Martin .
Williams cites case of NBC ex Tiger Woods ' . Jayson Williams has been sentenced to five years for killing a man . Martin says his fall from grace , not Tiger Woods ' , is example to examine . Both men morally wrong , only one legally wrong , Roland Martin says .