Two Men Convicted of Killing Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay Nearly 22 Years After the Rap Star’s Death – Andscape

NEW YORK – Two men were convicted of murder Tuesday in reference to the death of Run-DMC Jam star Master Jay, a brazen shooting from 2002 in the rap legend’s studio.

An anonymous federal jury in Brooklyn has reached its verdict in the trial of Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington.

Jam Master Jay, born Jason Mizell, worked the turntables at Run-DMC, helping hip-hop break into mainstream pop music in the Eighties with hits like “It’s Tricky” and a fresh tackle Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” . Mizell later began a record label, opened a studio in his old Queens neighborhood and helped usher in other talent, including rapper 50 Cent.

Mizell was shot dead in his studio in front of witnesses October 30, 2002

Like the murders of rap icons Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G in the late Nineteen Nineties, Mizell’s case remained open for years. Authorities were bombarded with suggestions, rumors and theories, but had difficulty getting witnesses to come back forward.

Jordan, 40, was the godson of the famous DJ. Washington, 59, was an old friend who was sleeping at DJ’s sister’s house. Both men were arrested in 2020 and pleaded not guilty.

“Twenty years is a long time to wait for justice,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Artie McConnell told the jury in closing arguments, urging: “Don’t let this go on for another minute.”

The men’s names, or not less than their nicknames, have appeared for a long time in reference to the case. Authorities publicly named Washington a suspect in 2007. Meanwhile, he told the magazine in 2003 that he was outside the studio, heard gunshots and saw “Little D” – one of Jordan’s nicknames – running from the constructing.

Prosecutors argue that each men turned on the rap star over a cocaine deal.

Mizell was part of Run-DMC’s anti-drug message, delivered through a public service announcement and lyrics corresponding to “.” But in response to prosecutors and trial testimonyafter the group’s heyday, he went into debt and moonlighted as a cocaine broker to cover his bills and his customary generosity towards friends.

“He was a man who engaged in the drug game to take care of the people who depended on him,” McConnell said in his summary.

Prosecution witnesses testified that in recent months, Mizella had a plan to acquire 10 kilograms of cocaine and sell it through Jordan, Washington and a dealer in Baltimore. But the Baltimore connection refused to cooperate with Washingtonin response to testimony.

According to prosecutors, Washington and Jordan went after Mizell out of revenge, greed and jealousy.

Two eyewitnesses, a former studio assistant Uriel Rincon and Mizell’s former business manager, Lydia High, testified that Washington locked the door and he ordered High to lie on the floor. She said he brandished a gun.

Rincon identified Jordan as the man who approached Mizell and exchanged friendly greetings moments before shots were fired and one bullet was fired he wounded Rincon himself. Three other people incl a teenage singer who just dropped by to the studio to praise her demo tape, they testified that they were in the next room and heard but didn’t see what happened.

Other witnesses testified that Washington and Jordan made incriminating statements about Mizell’s murder after it happened.

Neither Washington nor Jordan testified. Their lawyers questioned the credibility of key prosecution witnesses and their memories of the long-ago shooting, noting that some initially denied having the ability to discover the assailants or having heard who they were.

“Virtually every witness changed their testimony 180 degrees,” one of Washington’s lawyers, Susan Kellman, told the judge during legal arguments.

Witnesses said they were overwhelmed, didn’t want to supply second-hand information or feared for his or her lives.

Washington’s defense also referred to a retired psychology professor who testified that folks’s memories of any given event can turn into a mixture of what they really experienced and what they later learned.