Man cleared in the killing of Run-DMC's Jam Master Jay could soon be
freed
[April 07, 2026]
By JENNIFER PELTZ
NEW YORK (AP) — A man who was convicted and then cleared of killing rap
star Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC could be freed within days after a judge
granted him $ 1 million bond on Monday.
Karl Jordan Jr. wasn't automatically let go because he still faces drug
charges unrelated to the pioneering DJ's 2002 death. For now, Jordan
remains behind bars while prosecutors decide this week whether to appeal
the bond decision. If they don't, he'll go free as soon as his bond
paperwork is in order.
“There's a real chance, Mr. Jordan, that you may be released in the very
near term,” U.S. District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall said. If that
happens, she added, “I wish you luck. And you will stay out of trouble.”
Jordan quietly agreed as more than a dozen of his relatives and
supporters looked on from the audience. Some have attended nearly six
years of court dates in his case and 17 agreed to cosign his bond.
Jordan’s loved ones also agreed to put up Southern properties worth a
total of $525,000. If released, he will be under electronic monitoring.
His lawyers declined to comment after court.
Jam Master Jay, born Jason Mizell, was fatally shot in his New York City
recording studio in 2002. As the DJ in Run-DMC, he helped rap reach
music's mainstream with 1980s hits including “It’s Tricky” and a remake
of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way.” He later mentored up-and-comers
including a young 50 Cent.
After the case went cold for years, Jordan and Ronald Washington were
arrested in 2020. Washington, now 61; and Jordan, 42, denied the
charges.
A jury convicted the men in 2024, after hearing eyewitness testimony
that Jordan shot Mizell while Washington blocked the door. But in
December 2025, DeArcy Hall unraveled Jordan’s conviction and acquitted
him, while upholding the verdict against Washington.
Her reasoning centered on whether prosecutors had proven that the
killing was narcotics-related, a requirement of the federal murder
charge in this case. Witnesses testified that after Run-DMC’s heyday,
Mizell dabbled in cocaine deals to pay his bills and was providing
drug-trade opportunities to Jordan and Washington — the DJ's godson and
old friend, respectively.
The judge concluded that the jury heard sufficient evidence that
Washington was bitter at Mizell about the collapse of a planned drug
transaction in Baltimore. But there wasn't such proof, “just
conjecture," that Jordan had the same animus, DeArcy Hall wrote.
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In this Feb. 22, 2002 file photo made in Los Angeles, the late
Rap legend Jam Master Jay, is shown. (AP Photo/Krista Niles, File)
 Prosecutors are appealing her
decision to acquit Jordan of Mizell's killing.
Jordan's attorneys argued that he ought to get bond while that
appeal and the outstanding drug and weapons charges play out.
Jordan, whose girlfriend is a city jail official,
“is not a danger to the community. But his continued detention is a
danger to Mr. Jordan," lawyer John Diaz said at a March 13 hearing.
Jordan was stabbed and seriously wounded in Brooklyn’s troubled
federal jail last year; other inmates were charged with assaulting
him.
Prosecutors deplored the stabbing but urged the judge to continue
detaining Jordan, maintaining that he remained a flight risk.
DeArcy Hall concluded Monday that Jordan's bond package outweighed
concerns that he might flee. But she told him, “At the end of the
day, sir, bond is about you giving me your word.”
“Yeah, I'm aware of that,” he replied.
Turning toward the audience, she sought to make sure his family also
got the message that Jordan needs to comply with bond conditions.
“You all know I do not play,” the judge warned. “We all understood,
folks?”
A collective “yes, your honor” rose from the audience.
Meanwhile, prosecutors are in plea talks with a third man charged in
Mizell's killing, prosecutors and his lawyers told the judge in a
March 12 letter. The third man, Jay Bryant, was indicted in 2023
after his DNA was found on a hat at the shooting scene. He has
pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors claimed that Bryant slipped into the studio building and
opened a back door for Jordan and Washington, having met them
through a mutual acquaintance. Jordan's lawyers have argued that the
case against Bryant raised doubts about the now-dismissed
allegations against Jordan.
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