Karl Jordan Jr.: Overturned Verdict, Appeal, and Drug Charges

Karl Jordan Jr. is a Queens man who was convicted in February 2024 of the 2002 murder of Run-DMC’s Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell, only to have that conviction thrown out by a federal judge in December 2025 for insufficient proof of motive. He remains held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn while prosecutors appeal the acquittal, a separate federal drug case against him awaits trial, and a bond that would have released him sits on hold.

Who Karl Jordan Jr. Is

Jordan, now 42, is Mizell’s godson. Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York charged him in August 2020, nearly 18 years after the shooting, with murder while engaged in narcotics trafficking, firearm-related murder, conspiracy to distribute cocaine, and seven counts of cocaine distribution.¹ He was one of three men eventually charged. Ronald Washington was his co-defendant at trial. Jay Bryant was charged separately in 2023.

The 2002 Shooting

On the evening of October 30, 2002, Mizell was shot and killed inside his “24/7” recording studio on Merrick Boulevard in Jamaica, Queens. He was 37. Prosecutors said two armed men entered the studio after a co-conspirator opened a locked fire escape door from inside. According to the government’s account, Jordan approached Mizell, initiated a handshake, and fired two shots at close range. One killed Mizell instantly. The other hit Mizell’s friend Uriel “Tony” Rincon in the leg. Washington, the government alleged, held a gun to the face of Mizell’s business manager and ordered her to the floor.²

The government’s theory of motive was a soured drug deal. Prosecutors said Mizell had taken about ten kilograms of cocaine on consignment in July 2002 for distribution in Maryland by Washington, Jordan, and others, and that after a falling-out Mizell told Washington he was being cut out of a deal valued near $200,000. The killing, prosecutors argued, was an act of “greed and revenge.”²

The Trial and Conviction

Jordan and Washington went to trial before U.S. District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall on January 29, 2024. The proceedings lasted about three weeks. The cocaine trafficking counts against Jordan were severed and set aside for a later trial.³

Rincon was the prosecution’s central eyewitness. He testified that he was playing video games with Mizell when Jordan walked in, gave the DJ a “half handshake,” and opened fire, and he identified Washington as the man standing in the doorway.⁴ For about 15 years, Rincon had told police he could not identify the gunman. He testified that he had been afraid for himself and his mother and that Jordan approached him at Mizell’s funeral to ask whether he had seen the shooter. He said he named Jordan and Washington to authorities around 2017 because he felt Mizell’s family “needed closure.”⁵ Lydia High, Mizell’s business manager, testified that she saw a man with a neck tattoo matching Jordan’s give the DJ a “pound” before she heard gunfire. Washington’s former girlfriend testified he had admitted to the killing.²

On February 27, 2024, the jury found both men guilty of murder while engaged in narcotics trafficking and firearm-related murder. Each faced a minimum of 20 years and a maximum of life.²

Why the Judge Threw Out the Verdict

On December 19, 2025, Judge Hall issued a 29-page ruling granting Jordan’s motion for a judgment of acquittal under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 29. The ruling turned on an element the federal statute required the government to prove: that the killing was connected to the drug conspiracy.⁶

Judge Hall found sufficient evidence that Jordan belonged to a drug trafficking conspiracy, but not that he was motivated by the failed Baltimore deal or by any wish to retaliate against Mizell over it. She called the government’s theories of Jordan’s motive “impermissibly speculative and just conjecture.” She wrote: “In this case, there is simply no evidence suggesting that Jordan felt cheated by the failure of the Baltimore deal, was disappointed by the proceeds he received from the conspiracy, or sought to steal cocaine from Mizell, much less motivated to kill Mizell because of these reasons.”⁶

The judge treated Washington differently. She denied his motions for acquittal and a new trial, ruling that a jury could reasonably infer he sought retaliation for being cut out of the Baltimore deal.⁷ Washington’s conviction stands. His attorney, Susan Kellman, has said he may pursue further appeals. He has not yet been sentenced.

The Government’s Appeal and Jordan’s Bond

Prosecutors filed an interlocutory notice of appeal to the Second Circuit in early January 2026.⁸ Their appellate brief, filed April 16, 2026, argued that Judge Hall “overlooked and minimized evidence” of narcotics-related motives and that the conviction had been supported by testimony from 38 witnesses.⁹

While the appeal was pending, Jordan asked to be released. On April 6, 2026, Judge Hall approved a $1 million bond package secured by properties in the South worth $525,000 in total, with electronic monitoring. His lawyer, John Diaz, argued he was not a flight risk, noting among other things that Jordan’s girlfriend is a city jail official.¹⁰ Judge Hall stayed the release until April 10, 2026, and reportedly told Jordan directly, “I don’t play.”¹¹ Prosecutors appealed the bond order, and as of April 10, 2026, Jordan’s release was on hold pending that decision. He remains at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.¹²

The Drug Charges Still Pending

Even without the murder conviction, Jordan is not close to walking out. He still faces the severed federal counts of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and cocaine distribution from the 2020 indictment. He has pleaded not guilty and faces up to 15 years if convicted.¹¹ Prosecutors have argued he should remain detained both during the appeal of the acquittal and while awaiting the drug trial.¹²

Stabbed at the Brooklyn Federal Jail

On February 22, 2025, while awaiting sentencing on his then-intact conviction, Jordan was stabbed in the back 18 times during a melee at the Metropolitan Detention Center. He was one of five inmates hospitalized. He survived and was reported in stable condition.¹³ Federal prosecutors later charged 23 inmates at the facility, six of them in connection with the February 22 incident, as part of a broader crackdown on violence there. The identities and motive of Jordan’s specific attackers were not publicly disclosed.¹⁴

The Co-Defendants

Washington’s murder conviction stands and he awaits sentencing. Bryant, the third defendant, pleaded guilty on April 27, 2026, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Peggy Cross-Goldenberg to firearm-related murder. He admitted helping others enter the studio to “ambush” Mizell and told the court, “I knew a gun was going to be used to shoot Jason Mizell. I knew that what I was doing was wrong and a crime.” He did not name his accomplices. He had also pleaded guilty in December 2023 to separate narcotics and firearms charges, and faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 20 across all counts. No sentencing date has been set. The reporting available does not indicate Bryant entered a cooperation agreement or that his plea directly affects Jordan’s appeal.¹⁵

Jordan has now spent more than five years in federal custody. Whether he ever leaves it will depend first on how the Second Circuit rules on the government’s appeal, and after that on the still-untried cocaine case waiting behind it.

1
U.S. Department of Justice. Two Queens Men Charged in Murder of Run-DMC DJ Jason Mizell
2
U.S. Department of Justice. Two Queens Men Convicted of Drug-Related Murder of Run-DMC DJ Jason Mizell
3
GovInfo. United States v. Jordan, Memorandum and Order
4
Rolling Stone. Jam Master Jay Trial Witness Testimony
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NBC New York. Eyewitness to Killing of Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay Testifies
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NBC News. Judge Overturns Man’s Murder Conviction in Killing of Rap Legend Jam Master Jay
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CNN. Jam Master Jay Murder Conviction Overturned
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CourtListener. United States v. Jordan Docket
9
Billboard. Jam Master Jay Murder Case Prosecutors Seek to Reinstate Conviction
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ABC7 New York. Man Cleared of Killing Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay Could Soon Be Freed
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Courthouse News Service. Judge Grants Bond for Man Acquitted of Jam Master Jay Murder, Issues Warning
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U.S. News & World Report. Release Is on Hold for the Man Cleared of Killing Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay
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NBC New York. Man Convicted of Killing Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay Stabbed Awaiting Sentencing
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WBAL-TV. Brooklyn Inmates Charged in Violence Involving Jam Master Jay’s Killer
15
U.S. Department of Justice. Jay Bryant Pleads Guilty as Accomplice to Murder of Run-DMC’s Jason Mizell