Man cleared in the killing of Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay could soon be freed

NEW YORK– A man who was convicted and later cleared of killing Run-DMC rap star Jam Master Jay could be freed days after a judge granted him $1 million bail Monday.

Karl Jordan Jr. was not automatically fired because he still faces drug charges unrelated to the pioneering DJ’s death in 2002. For now, Jordan remains behind bars while prosecutors decide this week whether they will appeal the bail decision. If they don’t, he will be released as soon as his bond papers are in order.

“There is a real chance, Mr. Jordan, that you will be released in the very short term,” U.S. District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall said. If that happens, she added, “I wish you luck. And you’ll stay out of trouble.”

Jordan quietly agreed as more than a dozen of his relatives and supporters watched in the audience. Some sat through nearly six years of hearings in his case and 17 agreed to co-sign his bond. Jordan’s relatives also agreed to build properties in the South worth a total of $525,000. If he is released, he will be under electronic monitoring.

His lawyers declined to comment after the trial.

Jam Master Jay, born Jason Mizell, was fatally shot in his New York recording studio in 2002. As Run-DMC’s DJ, he helped rap reach the mainstream with 1980s hits including “It’s Tricky” and a remake of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way.” He then mentored newcomers, including a young 50 Cent.

After the case went unsolved for years, Jordan and Ronald Washington were arrested in 2020. Washington, now 61; and Jordan, 42, has denied the accusations.

A jury convicted the men in 2024, after hearing testimony from an eyewitness that Jordan shot Mizell while Washington blocked the door. But in December 2025, DeArcy Hall unsealed Jordan’s conviction and acquitted him, while upholding the verdict against Washington.

His reasoning centered on whether prosecutors had proven the killing was drug-related, a requirement of the federal murder charge in the case. Witnesses testified that after Run-DMC’s heyday, Mizell engaged in cocaine deals to pay his bills and provided drug dealing opportunities for Jordan and Washington – the DJ’s godson and old friend, respectively.

The judge concluded that the jury heard enough evidence that Washington was bitter toward Mizell over a failed drug deal in Baltimore. But there was no evidence, “just conjecture,” that Jordan had the same animosity, DeArcy Hall wrote.

Prosecutors are appealing his decision to acquit Jordan of Mizell’s murder.

Jordan’s attorneys argued he should be granted bond while that appeal and pending drug and weapons charges play out.

Jordan, whose girlfriend is a city jail official, “does not pose a danger to the community. But his continued detention poses a danger to Mr. Jordan,” attorney John Diaz said at a March 13 hearing. Jordan was stabbed and seriously injured in Brooklyn’s troubled federal prison last year; other detainees were accused of assaulting him.

Prosecutors deplored the stabbing but urged the judge to keep Jordan in custody, saying he was still a flight risk.

DeArcy Hall concluded Monday that Jordan’s bond package outweighed concerns that he might flee. But she told him, “At the end of the day, sir, the bond is about giving me your word. »

“Yes, I am aware of that,” he replied.

Turning to the audience, she sought to make sure her family also understood the message that Jordan must comply with bail conditions.

“You all know I don’t play,” the judge warned. “Do we all understand, friends? »

A collective “yes, your honor” rose from the audience.

Meanwhile, prosecutors are in plea talks with a third man charged with Mizell’s murder, prosecutors and his attorneys told the judge in a March 12 letter. The third man, Jay Bryant, was charged in 2023 after his DNA was found on a hat at the scene of the shooting. He pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors claimed Bryant slipped into the studio building and opened a back door for Jordan and Washington, after meeting them through a mutual acquaintance. Jordan’s lawyers argued that the case against Bryant raised doubts about the now-dismissed allegations against Jordan.