Jason Mizell, also known as Jam Master Jay was a recording artist, producer and DJ, most known for being part of the legendary hip hop group Run-DMC. As part of Run-DMC, along with his crew members Joseph “Run” Simmons and Darryl “D.M.C.” McDaniels, Mizell helped pioneer hip hop during the 1980s and produced some of their biggest hits.
However, in 2002, at the age of 37, Mizell was shot and killed at his Jamaica, Queens recording studio, and now his family are looking for justice. Police had hit a dead end with every line of inquiry, and the murder was put down as an unsolved cold case. That was until 2020, when police, the FBI and other law enforcement bodies indicted two men, Ronald Washington and Karl Jordan Jr., on charges of the DJ’s murder.
The lawyers of the two suspects charged claimed that the charges were brought against their clients too late for an official court hearing to be warranted and suggested that the case be dismissed. However, the judge presiding over the trial rejected the defence’s request to dismiss the case and insisted the trial would go ahead next February.
The lawyers, frustrated, still believe that crucial evidence which could have supported their alibis is now no longer available and that key witnesses may not remember details because it was so long ago, but irrespective of this, judge LaShann DeArcy Hall has officially dismissed their claims as “speculative”. Hall has also stated that “Conspicuously absent from Jordan’s argument is any factual support for his claim,” the judge added. “In the absence of any factual support, the court has no idea what Jordan believes the phone records contain, how they could conceivably contradict the Government’s evidence, and how those contradictions could conceivably demonstrate that Jordan did not commit the crime.”
Karl Jordan has remained in custody since the charges were brought against him in 2020, and his co-defendant, Washington, is currently serving a federal prison sentence for robbery. The trial is set to go ahead next year, February.
