A jury has reached a verdict in the trial of two defendants charged in the 2002 murder of hip-hop icon Jam Master Jay at a New York City recording studio.
U.S. District Judge Rashan Deacy Hall announced Tuesday that the verdict will be read at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington are accused of killing Jam Master Jay (real name Jason Mizell, co-founder of Run-DMC in the early 1980s) during a drug deal.
If convicted, Jordan and Washington face at least 20 years in prison and up to life in prison. Prosecutors declined to seek the death penalty against them.
Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York said Mizell was involved in cocaine trafficking in the mid-1990s, when Run-DMC's notoriety was fading.
Authorities said Mizell obtained 22 pounds of cocaine that Washington, Jordan and others planned to distribute in Maryland.
Prosecutors allege that when Mizell told Washington he would not participate in the distribution, Washington hatched a “murderous conspiracy” against the music star.
According to prosecutors, at 7:30 p.m. on October 30, 2002, Washington and Jordan entered Mizell's 24-hour recording studio in Queens and ordered Mizell to lie on the floor.
Prosecutors said Jordan fired two shots at close range, one fatally hitting Mizell in the head. Jordan was 36 years old when the charges were announced in 2020. Washington was 56 years old.
“They murdered him in cold blood,” Seth Ducharme, then the acting U.S. attorney, said when the indictment was announced.
Washington was first named as a suspect in Mizell's murder in 2007, when he was on trial for a series of armed robberies. He has maintained that he was not involved.
Ducharme acknowledged in 2020 that a new team of prosecutors and investigators had solved the nearly 20-year-old case.
Jordan, who was 18 at the time of the attack, said he was at his girlfriend's house that night, according to the Associated Press, and witnesses said in court documents that witnesses may corroborate that claim. The defense also reportedly said in court documents that Mr. Mizell and Mr. Jordan's father had been lifelong friends.
He also faces gun and cocaine charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
In May 2023, a third defendant, Jay Bryant, 49, was charged with murder after prosecutors said there was evidence he was at the recording studio the night of the killing.
It was then decided that he would be tried separately.
Bryant's lawyer, Cesar de Castro, told The Associated Press last year that the charges were the result of a “low burden of proof” and suggested prosecutors would have an uphill battle.
Mr. De Castro provided an opportunity to review his client's case Tuesday night, sending him information on a ruling supporting another trial and a timeline for the case. He said the trial is scheduled for January 2026.
Mizell was Run-DMC's DJ, but he also lent live drums, bass, and keyboards to the studio sessions, contributing to their crisp, bottom-heavy sound. Darryl “DMC” McDaniels and Joseph “Ran” Simmons are the other two founding members.
Walk This Way, the trio's 1986 mash-up with Aerosmith, is often cited as the lightning-in-a-bottle moment, but it's another song with head-banging guitar chords. This happened two years after the release of “Rock Box.”
Music publication OK Layer stated that Run-DMC had no intention of appeasing white rock-loving audiences. The trio wanted to surpass Billy Squire's 1980 hit “Big Beat.” They were planting the flag on the vitality of hip-hop.
