Jam Master Jay: two men convicted of murder in 2002 death of Run-DMC star
An anonymous Brooklyn federal jury delivered the verdict on Tuesday in the trial of Karl Jordan Jr and Ronald Washington
Two men have been convicted of murder in the 2002 slaying of Jam Master Jay, a member of the pioneering hip-hop group Run-DMC.
On Tuesday, a Brooklyn jury found Karl Jordan Jr and Ronald Washington guilty, prompting much commotion in the courtroom. Both men had been charged with one count of murder while engaged in narcotics trafficking and one count of firearm-related murder for the fatal shooting of Jason Mizell, better known as Jam Master Jay.
Washington was Mizell’s childhood friend while Jordan was Mizell’s godson.
“Y’all just killed some innocent people. Get me outta here,” Washington said as he attempted to get up from his seat, according to CNN. The network added that supporters of both men were shouting as they were removed from the courtroom.
Defense attorneys for both men argued in their closing statements last week that no physical evidence linked their clients to the fatal shooting, according to ABC affiliate station WABC. They reportedly implicated a third person charged in the case, Jay Bryant, who is being tried separately and is expected to see a trial in 2025.
While jury deliberations began in earnest last Thursday, a juror was subsequently dismissed and replaced, so deliberations had been pushed to Monday at 1pm.
“Twenty years is a long time to wait for justice,” the assistant US attorney Artie McConnell told jurors in a closing argument, imploring them: “Don’t let this go on for another minute.”
The charges, which were part of a 10-count indictment, included one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and seven counts of cocaine distribution for Jordan. Both Jordan and Washington pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors claimed that the fatal shooting happened in response to Mizell cutting Washington and Jordan out of a potentially lucrative cocaine distribution deal. They claimed that the men went to Mizell’s recording studio in Queens, where Jordan fired two shots at Mizell at close range, killing him.
The acting US attorney Seth DuCharme said in a statement announcing the charges: “The defendants allegedly carried out the cold-blooded murder of Jason Mizell, a brazen act that has finally caught up with them thanks to the dedicated detectives, agents and prosecutors who never gave up on this case.”
Mizell was the DJ in the influential rap group Run-DMC, which became a household name in the 1980s with hit songs like It’s Tricky. The group, which was founded in 1983, included Mizell, Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons and Darryl McDaniels. In 2009 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for paving the way in new-school hip-hop music.
Like the slayings of rap icons Tupac Shakur and the Notorious BIG in the late 1990s, the Mizell case remained open for years. Authorities were deluged with tips, rumors and theories but struggled to get witnesses to open up.
Jordan and Washington’s names, or at least their nicknames, had 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’d been outside the studio, heard the shots and saw “Little D” – one of Jordan’s monikers – racing out of the building.
Although the case may complicate Mizell’s image, the Syracuse University media professor J Christopher Hamilton says it should not be blotted out.
If he had indeed been involved in dealing drugs, “that doesn’t mean to say his achievements shouldn’t be lauded”, said Hamilton, a former entertainment lawyer and Brooklyn prosecutor who grew up partly in Mizell’s neighborhood. Hamilton argues that acceptance from local figures had been a necessity for successful rappers of the 80s and 90s.
“You don’t get these individuals without them walking through the gauntlet of the street,” Hamilton said.
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