After conflicting reports earlier this week, it has been confirmed by a federal judge that the motion to dismiss the murder charges against the two men accused of killing Jam Master Jay in 2002 has been refused.
According to a report by Vlad TV, it has also been decided by the judge the two men will not be tried separately in the case, despite their wishes. In 2002, at the age of 37, Jay (real name Jason Mizell) was shot and killed at his Queens recording studio, and his family have been searching for justice for 20 years.
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 attorneys working on behalf of Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Tinard Washington’s claim that federal prosecutors deliberately waited 12 years to charge the men. They also wanted them to trying the two men separately, as they believe it would prejudice the jury otherwise.
Judge Hall explained their decision: “It seems contrary to reason that the Government would delay an indictment on a murder charge against Jordan and Washington—risking loss of witnesses and other evidence—on the hope that it might 12 years later bring additional charges against Jordan.”
The trial is set to begin in February.
