Jam Master Jay's Alleged Killers Will Head To Trial

20 years after the October 2002 murder of Run-DMC member Jam Master Jay, his two alleged killers will go to trial in February 2023.

The surviving family members and loved ones of Jam Master Jay may receive justice in February 2023. Twenty years after the late Run-DMC member's October 2002 murder, two of his accused killers, Karl Jordan, Jr. and Ronald Washington, will head to trial early next year.

According to Billboard, the two men were charged for Jay's murder in August 2020. The pair attempted to argue that because of the long delay they wouldn't be able to defend themselves, with Jordan claiming that cell phone evidence that could properly defend his case were no longer available.

However, Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall called Jordan and Washington's arguments "speculative," and that the two must head to court.

“Conspicuously absent from Jordan’s argument is any factual support for his claim,” the judge wrote. “In the absence of any factual support, the court has no idea what Jordan believes the phone records contain, how they could conceivably contradict the Government’s evidence, and how those contradictions could conceivably demonstrate that Jordan did not commit the crime.”

Washington also argued that since 20 years have passed, the two men wouldn't remember key details of the incident. The judge then ruled that the two still couldn't avoid trial.

“That memories will dim, witnesses become inaccessible, and evidence be lost are not in themselves enough to demonstrate that defendants cannot receive a fair trial,” DeArcy Hall added. “While Washington goes on at length regarding errors in memory, he ignores that those are also problems for the Government.”

Jam Master Jay, whose real name was Jason Mizell, was gunned down in 2002. The case remained unsolved for two decades but in 2020, federal prosecutors charged Jordan and Washington with the killing, alleging that the murder was payback for a failed cocaine deal.