{"id":41725,"date":"2024-02-27T23:00:08","date_gmt":"2024-02-27T23:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=41725"},"modified":"2024-02-27T23:00:09","modified_gmt":"2024-02-27T23:00:09","slug":"killers-of-jam-master-jay-has-been-convicted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2024\/02\/27\/killers-of-jam-master-jay-has-been-convicted\/","title":{"rendered":"Killers of Jam Master Jay has been convicted"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Two men were convicted of murder Tuesday in the death of Run-DMC star Jam Master Jay, a brazen 2002 shooting<\/strong> in the rap legend\u2019s studio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An anonymous Brooklyn federal jury found Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington guilty of killing the pioneering DJ over what prosecutors characterized as revenge for a failed drug deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jam Master Jay, born Jason Mizell, worked the turntables in Run-DMC as it helped hip-hop break into the pop music mainstream in the 1980s with such hits as \u201cIt\u2019s Tricky\u201d and a fresh take on Aerosmith\u2019s \u201cWalk This Way.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like the slayings of rap icons Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G.<\/strong> in the late 1990s, the Oct. 30, 2002, shooting remained unsolved for years. Authorities were deluged with tips, rumors and theories but struggled to get witnesses to open up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s no mystery why it took years to indict and arrest the defendants,\u201d Breon Peace, the top federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, told reporters after the verdict. \u201cThe witnesses in the recording studio knew the killers, and they were terrified that they would be retaliated against if they cooperated with law enforcement and identified the ruthless executioners of Mr. Mizell. But their strength and resolve in testifying at this trial were a triumph of right over wrong and courage over fear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jordan, 40, was the famous DJ\u2019s godson. Washington, 59, was an old friend who was bunking at the home of the DJ\u2019s sister. Both men were arrested in 2020<\/strong> and pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cY\u2019all just killed two innocent people,\u201d Washington yelled at the jury following the guilty verdict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jordan\u2019s supporters also erupted at the verdict, cursing the jury. \u201cI love y\u2019all,\u201d Jordan said to the group who sat in the courtroom pews before they were escorted out by U.S. Marshalls after more yelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawyers for both men said they\u2019ve made a formal request for the judge to set aside the jury\u2019s guilty verdict and acquit them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2019We\u2019re optimistic,\u201d one of Washington\u2019s lawyers, Susan Kellman, told reporters. \u201cMy client did not do this. And the jury heard testimony about the person who did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The men\u2019s names, or at least their nicknames, have been floated for decades in connection to the case. Authorities publicly named Washington as a suspect in 2007. He, meanwhile, told Playboy magazine in 2003 he\u2019d been outside the studio, heard the shots and saw \u201cLittle D\u201d \u2014 one of Jordan\u2019s monikers \u2014 racing out of the building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mizell had been part of Run-DMC\u2019s anti-drug message, delivered through a public service announcement and such lyrics as \u201cwe are not thugs \/ we don\u2019t use drugs.\u201d But according to prosecutors and trial testimony<\/strong>, he racked up debts after the group\u2019s heyday and moonlighted as a cocaine middleman to cover his bills and habitual generosity to friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe was a man who got involved in the drug game to take care of the people who depended on him,\u201d Assistant U.S. Attorney Artie McConnell said in his summation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecution witnesses testified that in Mizell\u2019s final months, he had a plan to acquire 10 kilograms of cocaine and sell it through Jordan, Washington and a Baltimore-based dealer. But the Baltimore connection refused to work with Washington<\/strong>, according to testimony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to prosecutors, Washington and Jordan went after Mizell for the sake of vengeance, greed and jealousy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two eyewitnesses, former studio aide Uriel Rincon<\/strong> and former Mizell business manager Lydia High, testified that Washington blocked the door and ordered High to lie on the floor<\/strong>. She said he brandished a gun. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rincon identified Jordan as the man who approached Mizell and exchanged a friendly greeting moments before shots rang out and one bullet wounded Rincon himself<\/strong>. Three other people, including a teenage singer who had just stopped by<\/strong> the studio to tout her demo tape, testified that they were in an adjoining room and heard but didn\u2019t see what happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other witnesses testified that Washington and Jordan made incriminating statements about the Mizell killing after it happened. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neither Washington nor Jordan testified. Their lawyers questioned key prosecution witnesses\u2019 credibility and their memories of the long-ago shooting, noting that some initially denied they could identify the attackers or had heard who they were. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVirtually every witness changed their testimony 180 degrees,\u201d Kellman told the judge during legal arguments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The witnesses said they had been overwhelmed, loath to pass along secondhand information or scared for their lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington\u2019s defense also tapped a retired psychology professor, who testified that people\u2019s recollections of any event can become a blend of what they actually experienced and subsequently learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trial shed limited light on a third defendant<\/strong>, Jay Bryant, who was charged last year after prosecutors said his DNA was found on a hat at the scene. They assert that he slipped into the studio building and let Washington and Jordan in through fire door in the back so they could avoid buzzing up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bryant has pleaded not guilty and is headed toward a separate trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Testimony suggested that he knew someone in common with his co-defendants, but there\u2019s no indication that Bryant was close with Mizell, if indeed they ever met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bryant\u2019s uncle testified that his nephew told him he shot Mizell after the DJ reached for a gun, a scenario no other witnesses described.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McConnell said Bryant was \u201cinvolved, but he\u2019s not the killer.\u201d Prosecutors\u2019 theory doesn\u2019t even place Bryant in the studio, though that\u2019s where authorities found the hat with DNA from him and other people \u2014 but not the other defendants, according to court filings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, McConnell suggested that Jordan or Washington could accidentally have left the hat behind after Bryant came into contact with it. But lawyers for Washington and Jordan portrayed the garment as a key piece of evidence in their clients\u2019 favor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJay Bryant is literally reasonable doubt,\u201d one of Jordan\u2019s lawyers, Michael Hueston, told jurors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the case may complicate Mizell\u2019s image, Syracuse University media professor J. Christopher Hamilton says it shouldn\u2019t be blotted out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If he was indeed involved in dealing drugs, \u201cthat doesn\u2019t mean to say his achievements shouldn\u2019t be lauded,\u201d said Hamilton, a former entertainment lawyer and Brooklyn prosecutor who grew up partly in Mizell\u2019s neighborhood. Hamilton argues that acceptance from local underworld figures was a necessity for successful rappers of the \u201980s and \u201990s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t get these individuals without them walking through the gauntlet of the street,\u201d Hamilton said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two men were convicted of murder Tuesday in the death of Run-DMC star Jam Master Jay, a brazen 2002 shooting in the rap legend\u2019s studio. An anonymous Brooklyn federal jury found Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington guilty of killing the pioneering DJ over what prosecutors characterized as revenge for a failed drug deal. Jam Master Jay, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":41726,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[5722,6975,3193,5878,262,7960,9784,6613,4024,11282,10507,7234,6121,1917,11273,6144,8057,6159,6225,9997,9807,11166,11038,6654,12005,6580,9515,10454,10342,10776,10104,6220,12791,12309,5382,5058,11804,11973,5396,10313,11167,9028,11040,11039,3173,11259,6838,11325,11581,7302,4150,214,2354,10415,594],"class_list":["post-41725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-anonymous","tag-arrest","tag-baltimore","tag-brooklyn","tag-bullet","tag-case","tag-charged","tag-cocaine","tag-common","tag-convicted","tag-court","tag-death","tag-dj","tag-dna","tag-drug","tag-drugs","tag-fear","tag-fire","tag-friends","tag-guilty","tag-gun","tag-innocent","tag-jam-master-jay","tag-jordan","tag-judge","tag-jury","tag-killed","tag-killing","tag-law","tag-lawyer","tag-legend","tag-love","tag-manager","tag-men","tag-murder","tag-music","tag-not-guilty","tag-one","tag-peace","tag-professor","tag-prosecution","tag-rap","tag-run-dmc-2","tag-run-mc","tag-run-dmc","tag-shot","tag-singer","tag-street","tag-trial","tag-tupac","tag-tupac-shakur","tag-university","tag-washington","tag-work","tag-who"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41725"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41727,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41725\/revisions\/41727"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}