The murder case of Jam Master Jay is far from over. According to reports, Brooklyn prosecutors charged a third man from Queens Tuesday with the 2002 murder of Run DMC star.
Jay Bryant, 49, is currently being held on unrelated federal drug charges and will be arraigned on the murder charge at a later date. According to court filings, the new charges include murder while engaged in narcotics trafficking and other drug-trafficking counts.
The New York Times reported that César de Castro, a lawyer for Bryant, said his client, whose arraignment had not been scheduled, would plead not guilty.
“Securing an indictment in a secret grand jury, applying an extremely low burden of proof, is one thing,” Mr. de Castro said. “Proving it at trial is another matter.”
Karl Jordan and Ronald Washington were previously charged with the killing of Jam Master Jay, real name Jason Mizell,’ at a recording studio in Queens on October 30, 2002.
A medical examiner confirmed that the trailblazing DJ cause of death was a gunshot to the head.
New York City and federal authorities blamed the fatal shooting on a cocaine deal gone wrong.
Prosecutors said in court papers that Jordan and Washington “executed” Mr. Mizell, 37, after he sought to exclude them from “a multi-kilogram, multistate narcotics transaction.” In July 2002, just months before he was killed, the court papers said, Mr. Mizell had received about 10 kilos of cocaine “on consignment” from a supplier in Maryland.
Washington and Jordan were supposed to have been his partners in the deal, the papers said, but after a dispute, which was not described, Mr. Mizell threatened to cut them out.
Jordan, 39, and Washington, 59, have pleaded not guilty. They are scheduled for trial in January 2024.
In a letter filed with the court on Tuesday, prosecutors said Bryant and the two other men entered the building that evening, and then fled after the shooting. They said Bryant was seen going into the building, and his DNA was recovered at the scene.
Run DMC reached mainstream success in the early 1980s. The hip-hop group consisted of Joseph “Run” Simmons, Darryl “DMC” McDaniel, and Jay who was the duo’s DJ. Run DMC’s hits include “King of Rock,” “It’s Like That,” “My Adidas,” and a remake of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way.”
For years, Jay’s death lingered as a cold case, with witnesses reluctant to speak up despite reward money being offered, but the truth always finds a way of coming out.
