The murder conviction of one of the men who killed Jam Master Jay was thrown out Friday by a federal judge who said prosecutors didn’t prove that the murder was drug-related.
Brooklyn Federal Judge Lashawn DeArcy Hall said there wasn’t enough evidence to say Karl Jordan Jr., the godson of the beloved Run-DMC DJ Jason Mizell, had a motive to kill.
“The government fails to identify evidence that Jordan was dissatisfied by his portion of revenue from drug sales, was in contact with any supplier, or otherwise made arrangements to carry on Mizell’s operation,” the judge wrote in her 29-page ruling.
Jordan was convicted alongside Ronald Washington by a jury in Feb. 2024 of murdering Mizell inside his Queens music studio more than 20 years ago in revenge over a botched drug deal.
The four-week trial featured several witnesses who recounted the moment the pair gunned down the legendary DJ inside his 24/7 Studio in Hollis on Oct. 30, 2002.
Uriel “Tony” Rincon, a friend of Mizell’s, identified Jordan as the shooter at the Queens studio.
“I heard a couple of shots,” Rincon recalled. “I see Jay fall because his back was to me at the time. As Jay was falling, I saw Jordan shrug him off of him.”
At trial, prosecutors had claimed the killing was a revenge plot by Washington and Jordan after the pair were stiffed in a drug deal in Baltimore just months before the shooting.
But the judge said that prosecutors — who charged Jordan with murder while engaged in a narcotics trafficking conspiracy and firearm-related murder — failed to prove that the shooting was motivated due to the botched drug deal.
“From what evidence, then, could the jury have reasonably inferred that Jordan sought to retaliate against Mizell for the failure of the Baltimore deal? There was none,” the judge wrote.
Jordan had not yet been sentenced on the Mizell conviction — but remains locked up at the MDC Brooklyn jail.
Hall upheld Washington’s conviction.
Jordan’s attorney, Michael Hueston, said in a statement that “today’s decision brings a measure of solace as they approach the holiday season.”
A spokesperson for the Eastern District of New York said the decision is “being reviewed.”
