Judge nixes conviction of 1 of 2 men found guilty of killing Run-DMC's
Jam Master Jay
[December 20, 2025]
By JENNIFER PELTZ
NEW YORK (AP) — A judge Friday voided the conviction of one of the two
men found guilty of the 2002 killing of Run-D.M.C. star Jam Master Jay,
ruling that there wasn't enough evidence that the man had a motive to
kill the hip-hop luminary.
The reversal, which came as the judge upheld the other man's conviction,
marked another stunning and confounding turn in one of the hip-hop
world’s most elusive cases. It stymied investigators for nearly two
decades before two arrests were made in 2020, and authorities had hailed
the 2024 convictions as finally getting justice for one of rap's
pioneers.
Jam Master Jay, born Jason Mizell, worked the turntables in Run-D.M.C.
as the group helped hip-hop gain mainstream popularity in the 1980s with
such hits as “It’s Tricky” and a fresh take on Aerosmith’s “Walk This
Way.” His death followed the fatal shootings of Tupac Shakur in 1996 and
The Notorious B.I.G. in 1997, forming a skein of tragic violence that
took the lives of some of rap's biggest talents at the turn of the
millennium. Mizell was 37.
Nearly two years after the jury verdict in the case surrounding his
death, the decision came from the same Brooklyn federal judge who
presided over the trial. In Friday's ruling, U.S. District Judge LaShann
DeArcy Hall granted Karl Jordan Jr. an acquittal on the murder charges —
a request she had denied when his lawyers made it during the trial.
An eyewitness testified that he saw Jordan shoot the DJ — his own
godfather — in his Queens recording studio on Oct. 30, 2002. A onetime
tenant in Jordan's home also testified that he overheard Jordan admit to
the killing. But during more than 18 months of post-verdict
presentations, Jordan's lawyers argued that the evidence didn't support
prosecutors' claims about his alleged motive: revenge for a failed drug
deal.
“We are really happy for Mr. Jordan and his family that justice was
served,” one of his attorneys, John Diaz, said in an email. Jordan had
not yet been sentenced on the murder charges, but he remains behind bars
awaiting trial on drug charges from many years after the killing.
Prosecutors said they were reviewing the ruling.
Separately, the judge denied co-defendant Ronald Washington's bid for an
acquittal or a new trial. One of his lawyers, Susan Kellman, noted that
he can pursue further appeals.
Washington and Jordan were tried together, and witnesses testified that
Washington blocked the door during the shooting and ordered one of the
DJ’s aides to get on the ground.
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Run-D.M.C.'s Jason Mizell, Jam-Master Jay, poses with teenagers
gathered at New York's Madison Square Garden, Oct. 7, 1986, in New
York. (AP Photo/G. Paul Burnett, File)
 But the judge concluded that the
evidence about a drug-beef motive was stronger against Washington
than against Jordan. There was testimony that bad blood between
Washington and a Baltimore-based drug seller torpedoed a potential
six-figure cocaine deal involving Jordan, Washington and Mizell.
“A jury could reasonably infer that Washington was excluded from a
potentially lucrative Baltimore deal and sought to retaliate against
Mizell for his exclusion,” the judge wrote in the papers released
Friday. But, she asked, “from what evidence, then, could the jury
have reasonably inferred that Jordan sought to retaliate against
Mizell for the failure of the Baltimore deal? There was none.”
Run-D.M.C. — the first rap group to notch gold and platinum albums
and to have a video in rotation on MTV — spoke out against drugs in
lyrics, a public service announcement and shows. But after the group
peaked, Mizell got into debt and dabbled as a cocaine-market
middleman, according to prosecutors and trial testimony.
Neither Washington nor Jordan testified at the trial, where their
defense rested largely on questioning key prosecution witnesses’
credibility and their memories of the long-ago shooting.
Washington’s lawyers also questioned why he'd have any reason to
kill an old friend who helped him financially. Mizell's sister even
was letting the down-on-his-luck Washington live on her couch.
Jordan's lawyers also urged jurors to consider a third man, Jay
Bryant, who was charged in Mizell’s killing in 2023, well after
Jordan and Washington. Prosecutors have said Bryant's DNA was found
on a hat at the shooting scene, and Bryant's uncle testified that
his nephew told him he shot Mizell.
Bryant has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
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