Man seeks to be freed after his conviction was tossed in Jam Master Jay murder case

By: Jennifer Peltz, The Associated Press Posted: 4:12 PM CST Friday, Jan. 30, 2026

NEW YORK (AP) — A man whose conviction was recently thrown out in the killing of hip-hop luminary Jam Master Jay is asking to go free on a $1 million bond while prosecutors appeal, and he continues facing unrelated drug charges.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/01/2026 (259 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Since a judge scrapped Karl Jordan Jr.’s murder conviction in the death of the Run-DMC turntable ace, “there are seismic changes in circumstances warranting Mr. Jordan’s release,” his attorneys, led by John Diaz, wrote in a court filing Friday.

Prosecutors declined to comment. There’s no date yet for a hearing on Jordan’s bond proposal, which includes electronic monitoring.

FILE -Run-D.M.C.'s Jason Mizell, Jam-Master Jay, poses with teenagers gathered at New York's Madison Square Garden, Oct. 7, 1986, in New York City. (AP Photo/G. Paul Burnett, File)

Jordan and co-defendant Ronald Washington were convicted in 2024 of the killing, which stunned the music world and stymied authorities for nearly two decades.

Then U.S. District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall ruled on Dec. 19 that there wasn’t enough evidence to support Jordan’s federal murder conviction. She overturned the jury’s verdict against Jordan and acquitted him, while upholding Washington’s conviction.

Jam Master Jay, born Jason Mizell, was gunned down in his New York City studio in 2002. He was 37.

As the DJ in Run-DMC, he helped rap break through to mainstream audiences in the 1980s with such hits as “It’s Tricky” and a remake of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way.”

Jordan, now 42, was Mizell’s godson. Washington, 61, was a longtime friend. Prosecutors said the two killed the DJ out of greed and anger over a failed drug deal Mizell was engineering. Washington and Jordan denied the charges.

Prosecutors are appealing the reversal of Jordan’s conviction. Regarding the unrelated federal drug charges, prosecutors and Jordan’s lawyers have indicated that they’re open to plea talks. He pleaded not guilty to the charges years ago.

During his more than five years so far in Brooklyn’s troubled federal jail, Jordan was stabbed in the back 18 times during an inmate brawl last February. His lawyers said in Friday’s filing that he has enduring “physical, mental and emotional scars.”

DeArcy Hall commiserated at a hearing last week, when Jordan was in court for the first time since the attack.

“It shouldn’t have happened to you,” she said. “It shouldn’t have happened to anyone.”