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NEW YORK — A guilty verdict was reached Tuesday in the murder trial of two men accused of killing Run-DMC star Jam Master Jay.
The hip-hop icon, whose real name was Jason Mizell, was shot to death in 2002 inside his music studio in Hollis, Queens.
Prosecutors said Mizell’s godson, Karl Jordan Jr., and his childhood friend, Ronald Washington, killed the DJ after he excluded them from a cocaine trafficking business.
While many celebrated the guilty verdict, others said justice came with a price.
The jury spent three days deliberating on one of the most elusive murders in history. hip hop history.
“Although it appeared that the case had gone cold and would not be solved, law enforcement never wavered in its determination to bring Mr. Mizell’s killers to justice,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace. “It’s no mystery why it took so long. Witnesses were terrified of retaliation if they cooperated with authorities.”
“It’s definitely going to be a long time coming,” said Carlis Thompson, Mizell’s cousin. “Justice delayed is not always justice denied.”
Jane Rosenberg
Eyewitnesses testified that Jordan murdered Mizell inside his studio on October 30, 2002, while his childhood friend Washington guarded the door with a gun.
But the month-long trial revealed parts of Mizell’s life that the hip-hop icon tried to keep out of the public eye, primarily his role in cocaine trafficking. Prosecutors said that when Mizell pulled Jordan and Washington out of a deal to sell cocaine in Baltimore, they conspired to kill him, with the help of a third suspect, Jay Bryant.
Bryant was charged last year. Prosecutors say he entered the studio and let Jordan and Washington in via a fire escape.
Bryant has pleaded not guilty and will face a judge in a separate trial.
When asked if justice comes with a price, Mizell’s cousin Ryan Thompson said: “Yes. [I have] Answer yes because I didn’t know it either until they told me. We weren’t raised like that. “That’s not how we were raised.”
Watch Jessica Moore’s report
Defense attorneys called only one witness, a memory expert, who testified about the crux of their case: The only thing connecting Jordan and Washington to Mizell’s murder were old memories. The defense also attempted to attribute the murder to Bryant, the only suspect whose DNA was found in the study, on a hat located next to Mizell’s body.
Jacqueline Gonzalez, Jordan’s mother, said: “My son had nothing to do with this crime,” Jordan’s mother, Jacqueline Gonzalez, said Tuesday. “I’m still devastated. I can’t believe they found him; from all the data they got from this case, I can’t believe they found him guilty.”
Jordan, 40, and Washington, 59, face 20 years to life in federal prison. Defense lawyers have already promised to appeal the conviction.
While the death penalty is possible on these charges, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland last June ordered federal prosecutors in Brooklyn not to seek it.
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