Man Convicted of Killing Michael Jordan’s Father Denied Parole

According to a North Carolina state panel, the August 2024 release for one of two men convicted in Michael Jordan’s father’s murder over three decades ago has been revoked.

In 2020, the state’s Post-Release Supervision and Parole Commission announced that Larry M. Demery will be released as part of a deal that included him participating in a scholastic and vocational program aimed at preparing him for life beyond prison. The release date was originally set for August 2023, but it was later pushed back by a year.

Demery’s “agreement has been terminated” effective immediately, the commission announced in a news statement on Tuesday, without offering a reason. Demery, who is serving a life term for the first-degree murder of James Jordan in 1993, will be considered for parole again on or around Dec. 15, 2023, according to the statement.

A spokeswoman for the state Department of Public Safety, Greg Thomas, said he didn’t have any more information about Demery’s status. In general, a Mutual Arrangement Parole Program agreement may be canceled if the prisoner does not follow program requirements or violates conduct rules while incarcerated.

According to the department’s online data, Demery, 46, is currently serving a minimum-security prison sentence in Lincoln County. Demery has been charged with 19 infractions since 2001, including two drug-related offenses in the past month.

At trial, the state presented evidence that James Jordan had been killed along an access road off U.S. Highway 74 near Interstate 95 in Lumberton, North Carolina, in his red Lexus during the summer of 1993. Prosecutors had claimed the motive was robbery.

Prosecutors utilized Demery’s testimony to identify Daniel A. Green as the triggerman throughout the trial. Jordan’s body was discovered in a South Carolina swamp 11 days later and was identified via dental data. At the time, Demery and Green were both 18 years old.

After pleading guilty to first-degree murder, armed robbery, and conspiracy to commit robbery in 1995, a jury sentenced Demery to life in prison plus 40 years. After an error in his initial punishment was discovered, he was resentenced in 2008. Demery was then sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

As a result, Green is serving a life sentence for murder committed during the commission of the robbery, and a ten-year sentence for conspiracy to commit robbery. A judge refused to allow an evidentiary hearing that could have led to a new trial.