Jury reaches verdict in Jam Master Jay murder trial

The jury has reached a verdict in the New York murder case against Run-DMC star Jam Master Jay.

The decision is expected to be read at 3:30 PM EST, following the weeks-long trial in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Karl Jordan and Ronald Washington are accused of killing Jam Master Jay, real name Jason Mizell, who co-founded the hip-hop group in the 1980s, during a drug deal.

If found guilty, the two men face at least 20 years behind bars and a maximum of life in prison.

Prosecutors say the Mizell was killed in October 2002 during a failed cocaine deal.

Karl Jordan Jr. (left), now 40, the hip-hop star’s godson, is on trial for the murder of Jam Master Jay. He is being tried together with co-defendant Ronald Washington (right), 59

The case has remained unsolved for more than two decades, with prosecutors charging Ronald Washington and Karl Jordan Jr., the alleged shooter, with murder in 2020.

The two pleaded not guilty to murder while involved in narcotics trafficking and firearm-related murder. Jordan pleaded not guilty to several counts of narcotics distribution.

In their respective closing arguments on Wednesday, defense teams said a third person, Jay Bryant, was in fact Mizell’s killer.

Prosecutors accuse Bryant of letting Mizell’s killers into the musician’s studio, where he was shot dead, but say Bryant was complicit in the larger conspiracy, rather than the shooter himself.

He will be tried separately at a later date.

Defense teams pointed out that Bryant’s hat was discovered at the crime scene and say the spotlight should be on him, not their clients.

Attorney Michael Hueston, representing Jordan, tried to poke holes and point out inconsistencies in witness statements, urging the jury that reasonable doubt remained about Jordan and Washington’s involvement in the murder.

“This is an attempt to ridicule the justice system,” said Susan Kellman, an attorney on the Washington team. “They don’t have a case against anyone other than Jay Bryant.”

But in their rebuttal, prosecutors repeated their arguments that Jordan and Washington were in fact executioners who ambushed Mizell as part of a drug dispute.

Mizell worked at the decks with rappers Joe “Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels as the group helped bring hip-hop into the mainstream in the 1980s with hits like “It’s Tricky” and a remake of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way ‘. from the best-selling 1986 album ‘Raising Hell’

Mizell was at his recording studio in Hollis, the Queens borough of eastern New York City, where he and the two defendants grew up.

A weapon was found outside the crime scene and was part of the evidence shown to the jury

Angry after being left out of a cocaine deal, Jordan — the slain musician’s godson — fired a .40-caliber bullet into Mizell’s head while Washington held others in the room at gunpoint, prosecutors say.

For years, two key witnesses — Lydia High and Uriel “Tony” Rincon, the latter of whom was shot in the leg the night of the murder — had resisted cooperating with police, a reluctance that both they and prosecutors attributed to fear.

Prosecutor Mark Misorek said the defense teams’ attempts to shift the focus on Bryant represented “pure speculation.”

‘Karl Jordan Jr. shot Jason Mizell in the head and he did it while Ronald Washington was controlling the crowd,” he said.

The trial has revealed a lesser-known side of Mizell, who railed against the drug culture with his band Run-DMC.

But prosecutors say Mizell got involved in the drug trade to support his lifestyle and those of those close to him, while the buzz around the group’s music — hits like “It’s Tricky” and “Walk This Way” — began to fade.

He was a low-key middleman in the drug trade and a financial source for family and friends in the years leading up to his death, they say.

According to prosecutors, Jordan and Washington came up with their plan after Mizell deprived them of their jobs.

Along with LL Cool J and Public Enemy, Run-DMC pioneered new-school hip-hop – with a mix of rock elements, aggressive braggadocio and socio-political commentary – and its offshoot, golden-era hip-hop, including eclectic sampling.