Jam Master Jay's Murder Trial Begins as Prosecutors Claim Killers Were Motivated by 'Greed and Revenge'

The trial against suspect Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington began after the murder of the rapper in 2002.

The trial of two men accused of killing Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay began Monday, the Associated Press, NBC News and The New York Times.

Jason “Jay” Mizell, known professionally as Jam Master Jay, was shot in the head in his studio on October 30, 2002 while playing video games. He was 37 years old at the time of his death.

More than two decades after Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay was murdered, the trial of the suspects — Mizell’s godson, Karl Jordan Jr., and his childhood friend, Ronald Washington — began. The defendants could face a minimum prison sentence of 20 years to a maximum sentence of life in prison. Prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York said they would not seek the death penalty.

In 2023, a third man, Jay Bryant, was also charged with murder. He will be tried separately. All three pleaded not guilty. Each has its own lawyers.

The first two men were arrested in 2020. Federal prosecutors accused Jordan Jr., 40, and Washington, 59, of plotting to kill Jay after he removed Washington from the drug business.

“It was an ambush — an execution — and you’re going to find out it was motivated by greed and revenge,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Miranda Gonzalez said during opening statements.

Third man charged in 2002 fatal shooting of Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay.

Darryl McDaniels (DMC), Jason Mizell (Jam Master Jay) and Joseph Simmons (Run), from the American hip hop group Run-DMC

Bob Berg/Getty Images

Gonzalez told jurors that during the trial, jurors will hear from eyewitnesses who were in the studio that night. Gonzalez said the two men also admitted their involvement to others, the Associated Press reported.

Allegedly, the rapper gained 22 kilograms. (10 kilograms) of cocaine that the two murder suspects intended to distribute. Gonzalez claims the dealer didn’t want to work with Washington, and as a result cut both of them out of the sale and $200,000.

Prosecutors said Washington ordered one person to lie on the floor while he brandished a gun. At the same time, Jordan shot the rapper in the head and killed him on the spot. Mizell’s friend, Uriel “Tony” Rincon, was also hit and wounded, according to the Associated Press.

In 2003 Playboy In the article, Washington was quoted as saying he heard gunshots and saw Jordan running when he was on his way to the studio that night.

Jam Master Jay 1985 in New York, New York.

Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images

Rap master Jay killed in New York

Attorneys for the defendants said Monday that police still haven’t discovered who killed Mizell.

Jordan’s attorney, John Diaz, said his client did not kill Mizell. “Convicting the wrong person for Mr. Mizell’s death does not remedy the tragedy,” Washington’s attorney, Ezra Spilke, said, according to The New York Times.

They expressed that juries should remain skeptical of witnesses who cooperate with authorities in exchange for leniency toward their own legal problems. Washington lawyers also question why none of the witnesses called the police at the time.

Ezra Spilke, Washington’s attorney, questioned why his client would be motivated to kill a rapper who supported him financially.

Washington previously served prison time for armed robbery and heroin distribution. Meanwhile, Jordan – who was 18 when Mizell was killed – had no criminal record at the time of his 2020 arrest. However, prosecutors allege that Jordan played a role in drug trafficking for years, and as a result, Jordan was charged in 2020 with additional counts of narcotics distribution.

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Run-DMC, credited with starting hip hop music in the 1980s, went out of business after Mizell’s death in 2002. At Mizell’s funeral, his bandmates Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels remembered him fondly .

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Source: HIS Education