Federal prosecutors are pursuing a two-jury trial in the Jam Master Jay murder trial.
The motion, recently submitted by the government, is intended to simplify the proceedings for the three defendants: Karl Jordan, Jr., Ronald Washington, and Jay Bryant.
The update comes just months after a third suspect was charged over the death of the Run-DMC legend.
On May 30, Bryant, 49, currently facing trial for a separate drug-related indictment, was charged with murder during narcotics trafficking and other drug offenses. According to his lawyer, César de Castro, Bryant is expected to plead not guilty.
“Securing an indictment in a secret grand jury, applying an extremely low burden of proof, is one thing,” de Castro said. “Proving it at trial is another matter.”
The other two men, Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington, were charged in August 2020 for the 2002 murder of Jam Master Jay, who was killed in his Queens recording studio.
According to the 2020 indictment, it was revealed that Jam Master Jay’s murder was related to a drug deal gone wrong. He had acquired approximately 10 kilograms of cocaine worth about $1.7 million from a Midwest narcotics supplier months before his death. When he tried to exclude Jordan Jr. and Washington from the drug deal, they allegedly “murdered him in cold blood.”
Jordan, 39, and Washington, 59, have both pleaded not guilty. They tried to have their charges dropped, citing a two-decade delay and the unavailability of crucial cell phone records, but their motion was dismissed.
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