QUEENS, NEW YORK: A third man has been charged with the 2002 murder of Run DMC's Jam Master Jay. Jay Bryant, 49, was charged on Tuesday, May 30, and is being held on unrelated federal drug charges. He will be arraigned on the murder charge later. Jay, whose real name was Jason Mizell, was murdered by Bryant and two other men — Karl Jordan and Ronald Washington.
Jay, a hip-hop pioneer, was shot dead on October 30, 2002. The murder took place in his recording studio on Merrick Boulevard in Jamaica, Queens. Another person named Urieco Rincon was shot in the ankle but survived the attack.
Who is Jay Bryant?
Bryant was reportedly engaged in narcotics trafficking at the time of Mizell's murder, according to a superseding indictment filed in federal court in New York's Eastern District, NBC News reported. He also faces a firearms charge. The prosecutor's office stated in a detention memo that the suspect was seen entering the DJ's Queens recording studio immediately before the murder. His DNA was reportedly found on a piece of clothing left behind at the scene.
Prosecutors also argued in the detention memo that Bryant should be kept behind bars as he awaits trial because he is a flight risk. They said he is also a danger to the community. The memo said he faces previous drug charges and apparently has several aliases. A statement Bryant made to the authorities reportedly suggested he could try to flee to Cuba, if he's released.
An attorney for Bryant, Cesar de Castro, reportedly said, "Securing an indictment in a secret grand jury, applying an extremely low burden of proof, is one thing. Proving it at trial is another matter.”
What happened to Karl Jordan and Ronald Washington?
Jordan and Washington pleaded not guilty, and Washington even claimed in a sworn statement that Mizell was a “childhood friend." After their 2020 indictment, the prosecutor’s office said the motive for the murder could be connected to Mizell's “previous acquisition of 10 kilograms of cocaine” from a supplier in the Midwest. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have said that the two will not face the death penalty if they are convicted, according to ABC 7.
