https://apnews.com/2c2c9d4886526e6d304fe495dd62e29b?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP

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Two suspects have been indicted in the 2002 killing of hip hop artist Jam Master Jay, which until now had been one of New York City’s most notorious unsolved killings, two law enforcement officials told the Associated Press on Monday.

The officials were not authorized to speak publicly and did so on condition of anonymity. Federal prosecutors were expected to announce the charges at a news conference Monday afternoon.

Jason “Jay” Mizell, known professionally as Jam Master Jay, was a member of 1980s hip-hop sensation Run-DMC, behind hits such as “It’s Tricky” and the Aerosmith remake collaboration “Walk This Way.”

The 37-year-old Jay was shot once in the head in his Queens recording studio by a masked assailant, police said at the time. He left behind a wife and three children.

I chose to start the one about Malcolm X instead. I wonder why they’re anonymous.

I watched it last year. I didn't know all of the details about the shooting and the studio and everything.

Somehow I missed this on Netflix


Algorithm is good til it ain’t

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/17/nyregion/Jam-master-Jay-murder-arrests.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur

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Mr. Washington, 56, is currently serving a federal prison sentence for robbery. Mr. Jordan, 36, was taken into custody on Sunday and previously had gone to prison for shooting Mr. Mizell’s nephew.

Dude is 36 today. Which makes him 18 at the time of the murder!! A fucking child took part in taking out JMJ. Damn..

It’s always the reckless youngins that have the gall to take out an OG. No code or moral compass to those types.

Depending on where you grew up and what you've seen. Child my ass.

It’s like that shit from that HBO show “The Outsider” where the monster fucks your family to pieces. How many people from one family can you shoot?!

Feels like police were waiting for this to fall in their laps and solve itself. Definitely worth a watch, after reading the article.

since the turn of the millennium. 2002 really only feels like a few years ago, not almost 20.

this new era has been moving at a 1:3 ratio. shit's crazy.

I just turned 46, but I feel like I'm 37-40

Blame #45...even for the $hit before he got here. LMAO

whenever someone mentioned 20/25 years ago i immediately thought they meant in the 70s. makes me think of how long ago the 70s seemed to me in the 90s. now people are probably feeling that way about the 90s, maybe even early 2000s.

i was also surprised he was only 37, dont remember how old i thought he was when it happened. i probably was expecting to read he was 50.

Don't know why I thought he was in his 50s.

i guess i always hoped that wasnt it. 10 keys...Jay was knee deep in the game. they always said he was the real street cat out the group tho

Uncharacteristically, I made a separate post about the start of this trial last year:

https://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=4&topic_id=13497974&mesg_id=13497974&listing_type=search

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/jam-master-jay-murder-trial-everything-we-know-1234952821/

"Trial of Jam Master Jay's murder suspects to start 1/29/24 - RS swipe"


but...

here's the update about Karl Jordan Jr.'s overturned conviction:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/jam-master-jay-murder-conviction-overturned-1235488128/


Courts and Crimes


Judge Overturns Guilty Verdict for Man Convicted of Killing Jam Master Jay


Karl Jordan, Jr., has been awaiting sentencing since 2024 trial

By Kory Grow

December 19, 2025



A judge overturned the conviction of Karl Jordan, Jr., one of the two men found guilty last year for the 2002 murder of Jam Master Jay, on Friday. U.S. District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall decided to acquit Jordan, according to The Associated Press, after ruling that the U.S. attorneys prosecuting the case didn’t provide enough evidence of a motive for Jordan to kill the Run-DMC DJ, whose real name was Jason Mizell.

Judge DeArcy Hall, who had presided over the trial, denied the other man convicted in Mizell’s death, the DJ’s childhood friend Ronald Washington, requests for acquittal and a new trial. The New York Times reports that she believed the government proved its case with regard to Washington.

Although a witness, Uriel “Tony” Rincon, told the jury he saw Jordan fire the fatal shot that killed Mizell, Judge DeArcy Hall decided that prosecutors ultimately failed to connect the shooting to its overarching narrative, alleging Mizell’s murder was an act of revenge after he cut Washington out of a drug deal.


Jordan, who is currently in custody at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, had not yet been sentenced. He had been facing a minimum of 20 years behind bars. It was unclear at publication time when he would be released.


Jordan had also been charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine at the time of the verdict. The DOJ had yet to set a trial date at that time.

“On behalf of Mr. Jordan and his family, today’s decision brings a measure of solace as they approach the holiday season,” one of Jordan’s lawyers, John Diaz, tells Rolling Stone.

A rep for the Department of Justice tells Rolling Stone, “The decision is being reviewed,” with no further comment.


Reps for Run and DMC did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone’s requests for comment. A rep for Mizell’s sons, Jesse and TJ, who spoke with Rolling Stone last year, also did not respond to a request for comment.

After weeks of testimony, a jury at a Brooklyn federal courthouse in February 2024 found Jordan and Washington both guilty of murdering Mizell. In 2020, the DOJ charged the two men with murder “while engaged in a narcotics trafficking conspiracy and firearm-related murder.”


U.S. attorneys alleged that after Mizell’s star had faded, following the breakup of Run-DMC, he began supplementing his income by selling cocaine. When a drug distributor told Mizell that a deal would be off if Washington was involved, the lawyers said, Mizell subsequently cut out Washington. They claimed that Washington then roped in Jordan, Mizell’s godson, and another man, Jay Bryant (added to the indictment in 2023), into a murder plot.

The prosecutors’ version of events described Washington and Jordan entering a Queens recording studio with Bryant’s help at around 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 30, 2002. Washington allegedly stood guard while Jordan approached Mizell. Prosecutors said that during a hug, Jordan shot Mizell twice in the head.




Rincon, who was shot in the leg during the incident, and an employee of Mizell’s JMJ Records, Lydia High, were the only eyewitnesses. Both gave vivid and emotional testimony at the trial.

“I saw my sister (High) lying on the left side of the door, crying and screaming,” another witness, Randy Allen, testified. “I saw Tony hopping on one leg, and I looked down at Jay, and he’s lying there. He was shot. There was blood coming from his head.… (Lydia) was just crying hysterically.”


After the conviction, Run and DMC shared a statement to Rolling Stone saying they hoped the jury’s decision would give closure to Mizell’s family. “Jay will always hold a special place in the hearts of all his friends, and all the people he inspired, mentored and gave an opportunity,” they said. “He was the heart and soul of RUN DMC, and we will forever miss him.”

“For me, personally, I would hope that Jam Master Jay can serve as a story of inspiration, but also as a cautionary tale,” Mizell’s son, Jesse, told Rolling Stone last year. “No matter how much success you see, you’re still a product of your environment. There are thought processes that never leave you when you’re stuck in that environment. And we weren’t really raised in that environment. My dad stayed in the neighborhood that he grew up in, and that can kind of lead you to doing some things that you were doing years earlier. Definitely give back to your community, but you got to move on as well.”

New York Times explains the decision better

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/nyregion/jam-master-jay-conviction-overturned.html?utm_social_handle_id=807095&smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimes&utm_social_post_id=628206896

Basically the government charged it was a drug-related murder (hence federal charges) but the judge ruled that there was no evidence presented to show the murder by Jordan was drug related (though evidence was presented that he was actually the trigger man). The judge did find that evidence was presented that his co-conspirator role was drug related.

This makes no sense to me. I hate it. Justice was not served in court.

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"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

And if he does there will probably be a bounty on his head.

That dude was walking the streets of queens for years before he was arrested and everyone knew he was the shooter.

If he didn't get popped then who is going to do it now?


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/jam-master-jay-defendant-guilty-plea-report-1235549045/


Crimes and Courts

Man Accused of Killing Jam Master Jay Considers Guilty Plea: Report

Prosecutors are also asking the Court of Appeals to overturn the acquittal of another man accused of killing the pioneering DJ

By Kory Grow

April 17, 2026


Jay Bryant, one of three men the Department of Justice indicted for the 2002 murder of Run-DMC DJ Jam Master Jay, is expected to change his plea to guilty, according to The Associated Press. Bryant initially pleaded not guilty when indicted in 2023, though the AP reported in 2024 that Bryant was considering a guilty plea.

Documents entered in court on Thursday show that the man’s lawyers and prosecutors have been negotiating a deal, though the terms and just what Bryant would be admitting to aren’t yet known. The date that Bryant could enter a guilty plea has not yet been set. The AP notes that the possibility of a plea is still preliminary, giving room for Bryant to stick with the not guilty plea if he chooses. Bryant had a May 4 trial date, though it has been postponed.

A rep for the DOJ had no comment. Bryant’s lawyer did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment.


In the 2023 indictment, prosecutors alleged that Bryant had conspired to kill Jam Master Jay, whose real name was Jason Mizell, with Ronald Washington and Karl Jordan Jr. as part of a narcotics deal. Washington and Jordan were both tried and found guilty of Mizell’s murder “while engaged in a narcotics trafficking conspiracy and firearm-related murder” in 2024, though Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall overturned Jordan’s guilty verdict in 2025 because, in her opinion, U.S. Attorneys didn’t prove Jordan’s motive. At the time of Bryant’s indictment regarding Mizell, he was awaiting a trial for an unrelated drug charge.


At Washington and Jordan’s trial, prosecutors claimed Bryant entered the Queens studio where Mizell was recording on the day before Halloween, 2002, and let Washington and Jordan into the building via a back entrance. A hat with Bryant’s DNA on it was found at the crime scene. Bryant’s uncle, Raymond Bryant, told the jury during the trial that Jay had told him he’d been involved in Mizell’s death. “He said he did it,” Raymond said. The defense lawyers for Washington and Jordan both claimed that Bryant was the alleged shooter.


U.S. attorneys filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals on Thursday asking for a judge to overturn Jordan’s acquittal. “First, the court failed to consider all the evidence in the record and further disregarded evidence of the narcotics conspiracy if Jordan was not present at, or directly communicated about, such events,” the filing said. “Second, the court ignored the inferences reasonably drawn from the timing of events surrounding Mizell’s murder, Jordan’s role as the shooter, and Jordan and Washington’s conspiratorial relationship, instead requiring direct evidence of Jordan’s intent. Third, while finding sufficient proof of a narcotics-related motive as to Washington, the court ignored that Jordan, too, could have shared that same motive, in addition to having his own narcotics-related motives. Finally, the court failed to consider aiding and abetting liability.”

As DJ for Run-DMC, Jam Master Jay was an integral part of the DNA for hip-hop. “Ultimately, the reason my dad was killed was just jealousy,” TJ Mizell told Rolling Stone in 2024. “People don’t like to see other people win, unfortunately — especially in our communities, when there’s so little opportunity and everyone’s starving for just a shot to get out of the predicament that they’re in. If someone else got that shot and you feel like you deserved it, that can bring really bad thoughts into your mind.”