Two men were found guilty Tuesday of murder in the death of Run-DMC star Jam Master Jay, a brazen shooting at the rap legend’s studio in 2002.
An anonymous Brooklyn federal jury has returned a verdict in the trial of Carl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington.
Jam Master Jay, real name Jason Mizell, manned the turntables for Run-DMC and helped the group create hip-hop in the 1980s with hits like “It’s Tricky” and a fresh take on Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way.” It helped break into the pop music mainstream. Mizell later started a record label, opened a studio in his former Queens neighborhood, and helped bring in other talent, including rapper 50 Cent.
Mizell was shot to death in front of witnesses in his studio on October 30, 2002.
Like the murders of rap icons Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. in the late 1990s, the Mizell case remained unsolved for years. Authorities were inundated with information, rumors and theories, but had trouble uncovering any witnesses.
Jordan, 40, was the famous DJ’s godson. Washington, 59, was an old friend of DJ’s who was staying at her sister’s house. Both men were arrested in 2020 and have pleaded not guilty.
“Twenty years is a long time to wait for justice,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Artie McConnell told jurors in closing arguments. “We can’t let this continue any longer.”
The men’s names, or at least their nicknames, have surfaced in connection with the case for decades. Authorities publicly named Washington a suspect in 2007. Meanwhile, he told Playboy magazine in 2003 that he was outside the studio when he heard gunshots and saw “Little D,” one of Jordan’s nicknames, run out of the building.
Prosecutors claimed the two men attacked the rap star over a cocaine deal.
Mizell participated in Run-DMC’s anti-drug message, which was conveyed through public service announcements and lyrics such as “We’re not thugs/We don’t do drugs.” But prosecutors and trial testimony say he had racked up debt since the group’s heyday and helped sell cocaine to pay for his living expenses and regular generosity to friends.
“He was a man who entered the drug trade to take care of the people who depended on him,” McConnell said in his summing up.
Prosecution witnesses testified that during Mizell’s final months, he obtained 10 kilograms of cocaine and planned to sell it through dealers based in Jordan, Washington state, and Baltimore. But the Baltimore dealer refused to cooperate with Washington, according to testimony.
Prosecutors say Washington and Jordan pursued Mizell out of revenge, greed and jealousy.
Two witnesses, former studio aide Uriel Rincon and Mizell’s former business manager Lydia High, testified that Washington blocked the door and ordered High to lie on the floor. She said he brandished a gun.
Mr. Rincon identified Jordan as the man who approached Mizell and exchanged a friendly greeting, after which shots were fired, with one bullet wounding Mr. Rincon. Three other people, including a teenage singer who stopped by the studio with a demo tape, testified that they were in the next room and heard but did not see what happened.
Other witnesses testified that Washington and Jordan made incriminating statements about Mizell’s murder after it occurred.
Neither Washington nor Jordan testified. Their lawyers questioned the reliability and recollection of the old shootings of key prosecution witnesses, with some initially unable to identify the attackers or denying having heard of them. he pointed out.
“Virtually every witness changed their testimony 180 degrees,” one of Washington’s attorneys, Susan Kelman, told the judge during court arguments.
Witnesses said they were overwhelmed and reluctant to share second-hand information or feared for their lives.
Washington’s defense also had testimony from a retired psychology professor who testified that people’s memories of any event can be mixed with what they actually experienced and subsequently learned. did.
The trial shed limited light on Jay Bryant, the third defendant indicted last year, after prosecutors said his DNA was found on a hat at the crime scene. They claim he was able to sneak into the studio building and let Washington and Jordan in through the back fire door to avoid the commotion.
Bryant has pleaded not guilty and will face another trial.
Testimony suggested that Bryant had mutual acquaintances with his co-defendants, but there was no indication that Bryant was intimate with Mizell, if they had ever met.
Bryant’s uncle testified that his nephew said he shot Mizell after DJ reached for a gun, a scenario that no other witness described.
McConnell said Bryant was “involved, but not the culprit.” According to court filings, prosecutors’ theory was that Bryant was never even in the studio, but authorities found hats there that contained DNA from Bryant and others, but not the other defendants. It is said that
Still, McConnell suggested that Jordan or Washington may have accidentally left the hat behind after Bryant touched it. But lawyers for Washington and Jordan argued that the clothing was key evidence in their clients’ favor.
“Jay Bryant literally has reasonable doubt,” Michael Houston, one of Jordan’s attorneys, told jurors.
While the incident may complicate Mizell’s image, Syracuse University media professor J. Christopher Hamilton says it shouldn’t be dismissed.
Even if he was indeed involved in the drug trade, “that doesn’t mean his work shouldn’t be celebrated,” said Hamilton, a former entertainment lawyer and Brooklyn prosecutor who grew up in Mizell’s neighborhood. says. Hamilton argues that local acceptance was essential for successful rappers in the ’80s and ’90s.
“You don’t find these people unless you walk the streets,” Hamilton said.
