Twenty one years after Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay was murdered, his alleged killers will finally go to trial. On Monday (9.19), a federal judge rejected the defense’s request to dismiss the case and set a trial date for early 2023, according to Billboard.
After the two men — Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington — were charged with murdering the famous deejay back in 2020, their attorneys argued that prosecutors waited too long to charge them, causing the loss of crucial evidence. Their lawyers stated that cell phone records that would support their alibis were no longer available and that key witnesses to the incident would not remember details in the case. In response the federal judge stated that their arguments were too “speculative” to serve as a cause for dismissal.
Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall wrote “Conspicuously absent from Jordan’s argument is any factual support for his claim.” “In the absence of any factual support, the court has no idea what Jordan believes the phone records contain, how they could conceivably contradict the Government’s evidence, and how those contradictions could conceivably demonstrate that Jordan did not commit the crime.”
Back in May, Jordan Jr. requested a separate trial or for his murder indictment to be dropped and his lawyers said due to the delay, it’s now too late for Jordan to obtain “beeper records” and other “objective evidence” to support his alibi, and the location of a possibly critical eyewitness is no longer known.
Co-defendant Washington was previously quoted in Playboy as saying that he had witnessed Jordan Jr. fleeing the scene of the murder after hearing three shots. From “behind bars” in 2003, he referred to Jordan and Jordan’s father as “Little D” and “Big D” while speaking to Playboy, stating:
“I’m positive it was Little D. I looked him right in his face before he ran off.” “Little D told me, ‘My pops wasn’t supposed to shoot Jay. That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Washington also previously filed a motion to dismiss his indictment because “the government waited 18 years” to file charges, causing a “prejudicial impact” on “his ability to defend against the charges.”
According to the prosecution, Jordan Jr. shot Jay (born Jason Mizell) twice at close range, killing the turntablist with an execution-style bullet to the head.
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Author: Al Denté