{"id":187819,"date":"2026-04-07T00:02:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T00:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/187819\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T00:02:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T00:02:15","slug":"man-cleared-in-the-killing-of-run-dmcs-jam-master-jay-could-soon-be-freed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/187819\/","title":{"rendered":"Man cleared in the killing of Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay could soon be freed"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK — A man who was convicted\u00a0and then cleared\u00a0of killing rap star Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC<\/a> could be freed within days after a judge granted him $\u00a01 million bond\u00a0on Monday.<\/p>\n

Karl Jordan Jr. wasn’t automatically let go because he still faces drug charges unrelated to the pioneering DJ’s 2002 death. For now, Jordan remains behind bars while prosecutors decide this week whether to appeal the bond decision. If they don’t, he’ll go free as soon as his bond paperwork is in order.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s a real chance, Mr. Jordan, that you may be released in the very near term,\u201d U.S. District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall said. If that happens, she added, \u201cI wish you luck. And you will stay out of trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jordan quietly agreed as more than a dozen of his relatives and supporters looked on from the audience. Some have attended nearly six years of court dates in his case and 17 agreed to cosign his bond. Jordan\u2019s loved ones also agreed to put up Southern properties worth a total of $525,000. If released, he will be under electronic monitoring.<\/p>\n

His lawyers declined to comment after court.<\/p>\n

Jam Master Jay, born Jason Mizell, was fatally shot in his New York City recording studio in 2002. As the DJ in Run-DMC, he helped rap reach music’s mainstream with 1980s hits including \u201cIt\u2019s Tricky\u201d and a remake of Aerosmith\u2019s \u201cWalk This Way.\u201d He later mentored up-and-comers including a young\u00a050 Cent.<\/p>\n

After\u00a0the case went cold\u00a0for years, Jordan and Ronald Washington were arrested in 2020. Washington, now 61; and Jordan, 42, denied the charges.<\/p>\n

A jury\u00a0convicted\u00a0the men in 2024, after hearing eyewitness\u00a0testimony that Jordan shot\u00a0Mizell while Washington\u00a0blocked the door. But in December 2025, DeArcy Hall unraveled Jordan\u2019s conviction and acquitted him, while upholding the verdict against Washington.<\/p>\n

\"FILE<\/p>\n

FILE – In this Feb. 22, 2002 file photo made in Los Angeles, the late Rap legend Jam Master Jay, is shown.<\/p>\n

AP Photo\/Krista Niles, File<\/p>\n

Her reasoning centered on whether prosecutors had proven that the killing was narcotics-related, a requirement of the federal murder charge in this case. Witnesses testified that after Run-DMC\u2019s heyday, Mizell dabbled in cocaine deals to pay his bills and was providing drug-trade opportunities to Jordan and Washington \u2014 the DJ’s godson and old friend, respectively.<\/p>\n

The judge concluded that the jury heard sufficient evidence that Washington was bitter at Mizell about the collapse of a planned drug transaction in Baltimore. But there wasn’t such proof, \u201cjust conjecture,” that Jordan had the same animus, DeArcy Hall wrote.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors are appealing her decision to acquit Jordan of Mizell’s killing.<\/p>\n

Jordan’s attorneys argued that he ought to get bond while that appeal and the outstanding drug and weapons charges play out.<\/p>\n

Jordan, whose girlfriend is a city jail official, \u201cis not a danger to the community. But his continued detention is a danger to Mr. Jordan,” lawyer John Diaz said at a March 13 hearing. Jordan was\u00a0stabbed and seriously wounded\u00a0in\u00a0Brooklyn\u2019s troubled federal jail\u00a0last year; other inmates were charged with assaulting him.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors deplored the stabbing but urged the judge to continue detaining Jordan, maintaining that he remained a flight risk.<\/p>\n

DeArcy Hall concluded Monday that Jordan’s bond package outweighed concerns that he might flee. But she told him, \u201cAt the end of the day, sir, bond is about you giving me your word.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I’m aware of that,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n

Turning toward the audience, she sought to make sure his family also got the message that Jordan needs to comply with bond conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou all know I do not play,\u201d the judge warned. \u201cWe all understood, folks?\u201d<\/p>\n

A collective \u201cyes, your honor\u201d rose from the audience.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, prosecutors are in plea talks with a third man charged in Mizell’s killing, prosecutors and his lawyers told the judge in a March 12 letter. The third man, Jay Bryant, was\u00a0indicted in 2023\u00a0after his DNA was found on a hat at the shooting scene. He has pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors claimed that Bryant slipped into the studio building and opened a back door for Jordan and Washington, having met them through a mutual acquaintance. Jordan’s lawyers have argued that the case against Bryant raised doubts about the now-dismissed allegations against Jordan.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK — A man who was convicted\u00a0and then cleared\u00a0of killing rap star Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75340,9,11,10],"class_list":{"0":"post-187819","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-75340","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-headlines","11":"tag-new-york-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}