Photo Credit: Jam Master Jay by Jeff Pinilla / CC by 3.0
A judge tosses the conviction of one of the two men found guilty of the 2002 killing of Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay, ruling there was insufficient evidence.
On Friday, a judge nixed the conviction of one of the two men found guilty of the 2002 killing of Run-D.M.C. legend Jam Master Jay. U.S. District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall granted Karl Jordan Jr. an acquittal on the murder charges, ruling that there wasn’t enough evidence of motive.
The move marks the latest befuddling turn in one of hip-hop’s most elusive cases and comes as the judge upheld the other man’s conviction. The judge denied co-defendant Ronald Washington’s bid for either an acquittal or a new trial, but noted that he can still pursue further appeals.
The case had eluded investigators for nearly 20 years before authorities made two arrests in 2020. In 2024, the two men were convicted, which many saw as justice having finally been served. But now, almost two years after the jury verdict in the case, the latest decision has come from the same federal judge who presided over that trial.
During the trial, an eyewitness testified that he saw Jordan shoot Jam Master Jay, who is also his own godfather, on October 30, 2002, in his Queens recording studio. Further, a former tenant in Jordan’s home testified that he overheard Jordan admit to the killing. But Jordan’s lawyers argued that the evidence didn’t support prosecutors’ claims about his alleged motive of revenge for a failed drug deal.
“We are really happy for Mr. Jordan and his family that justice was served,” said one of his attorneys, who noted that Jordan had not yet been sentenced on murder charges, but remains behind bars awaiting trial on drug charges.
Jam Master Jay was born Jason Mizell and was best known for working the turntables for Run-D.M.C. during the group’s ascension in the early days of 1980s hip-hop. His 2002 death followed the fatal shootings of Tupac Shakur in 1996 and The Notorious B.I.G. in 1997, moments of tragedy that shook the hip-hop community and took the lives of some of the genre’s biggest talent of the day.
