NEW YORK — A judge Friday voided the conviction of one of the two men found guilty of the 2002 killing of Run-D.M.C. star Jam Master Jay, ruling there wasn't enough evidence that the man had a motive to kill the hip-hop luminary.
The reversal came as the judge upheld the other man's conviction.
The case stymied investigators for nearly two decades before two arrests in 2020, and authorities hailed the 2024 convictions as finally getting justice for one of rap's pioneers.
Run-D.M.C.'s Jason Mizell, known as Jam Master Jay, poses Oct. 7, 1986, at New York's Madison Square Garden in New York.
Jam Master Jay, born Jason Mizell, worked the turntables in Run-D.M.C. as the group helped hip-hop gain mainstream popularity in the 1980s with such hits as "It's Tricky" and a fresh take on Aerosmith's "Walk This Way." His death followed the fatal shootings of Tupac Shakur in 1996 and The Notorious B.I.G. in 1997, forming a skein of tragic violence that took the lives of some of rap's biggest talents at the turn of the millennium. Mizell was 37.
Nearly two years after the jury verdict in the case surrounding his death, the decision came from the same Brooklyn federal judge who presided over the trial. In Friday's ruling, U.S. District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall granted Karl Jordan Jr. an acquittal on the murder charges — a request she denied when his lawyers made it during the trial.
An eyewitness testified that he saw Jordan shoot the DJ — his own godfather — in his Queens recording studio on Oct. 30, 2002. A onetime tenant in Jordan's home also testified that he overheard Jordan admit to the killing.
However, during more than 18 months of post-verdict presentations, Jordan's lawyers argued that the evidence didn't support prosecutors' claims about his alleged motive: revenge for a failed drug deal.
"We are really happy for Mr. Jordan and his family that justice was served," one of his attorneys, John Diaz, said in an email. Jordan had not yet been sentenced on the murder charges, but he remains behind bars awaiting trial on drug charges from many years after the killing.
Prosecutors said they were reviewing the ruling.
Separately, the judge denied co-defendant Ronald Washington's bid for an acquittal or a new trial. One of his lawyers, Susan Kellman, noted he can pursue further appeals.
Washington and Jordan were tried together, and witnesses testified that Washington blocked the door during the shooting and ordered one of the DJ's aides to get on the ground.
The judge concluded that the evidence about a drug-beef motive was stronger against Washington than against Jordan. There was testimony that bad blood between Washington and a Baltimore-based drug seller torpedoed a potential six-figure cocaine deal involving Jordan, Washington and Mizell.
"A jury could reasonably infer that Washington was excluded from a potentially lucrative Baltimore deal and sought to retaliate against Mizell for his exclusion," the judge wrote in the papers released Friday. But, she asked, "from what evidence, then, could the jury have reasonably inferred that Jordan sought to retaliate against Mizell for the failure of the Baltimore deal? There was none."
Run-D.M.C. — the first rap group to notch gold and platinum albums and to have a video in rotation on MTV — spoke out against drugs in lyrics, a public service announcement and shows. But after the group peaked, Mizell got into debt and dabbled as a cocaine-market middleman, according to prosecutors and trial testimony.
Neither Washington nor Jordan testified at the trial, where their defense rested largely on questioning key prosecution witnesses' credibility and their memories of the long-ago shooting. Washington's lawyers also questioned why he'd have any reason to kill an old friend who helped him financially. Mizell's sister even let the down-on-his-luck Washington live on her couch.
Jordan's lawyers also urged jurors to consider a third man, Jay Bryant, who was charged in Mizell's killing in 2023, well after Jordan and Washington. Prosecutors said Bryant's DNA was found on a hat at the shooting scene, and Bryant's uncle testified that his nephew told him he shot Mizell.
Bryant pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
10 famous stars who were killed
Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner
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Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner arrive Dec. 2, 2023, at the State Department in Washington for the Kennedy Center Honors gala dinner. Rob Reiner gained fame on the 1970s sitcom “All in the Family” before directing hit films including “This is Spinal Tap,” “A Few Good Men,” “When Harry Met Sally” and “The Princess Bride.” The couple was found dead Dec. 14, 2025, at their home in Los Angeles. A law enforcement official said investigators believed they suffered stab wounds. Their son, Nick Reiner, was charged with murder in their deaths.
Marvin Gaye
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Marvin Gaye, winner of Favorite Soul/R&B Single, "Sexual Healing," attends the American Music Awards on Jan. 17, 1983, in Los Angeles. The R&B and soul musician's father shot Gaye on April 1, 1984, when he intervened in a confrontation between his parents at the family's home in Los Angeles. Marvin Gay Sr. pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter and was given a six-year suspended prison sentence. He died of pneumonia in a nursing home in 1998.
Sharon Tate
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Sharon Tate poses in 1968 for a portrait. The actress and model, 26, was one of five people killed by members of the Manson Family cult on Aug. 8, 1969, at the Los Angeles house she shared with her husband, director Roman Polanski. Tate was 8½ months pregnant. Manson and three members of his cult were convicted on Jan. 26, 1971, for the murders of seven people, including Tate.
Phil Hartman
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Phil Hartman, seen in October 1992, was a “Saturday Night Live” cast member who helped Paul Reubens develop his character Pee-wee Herman. Hartman's wife, Brynn Omdahl, shot and killed Hartman on May 28, 1998, as he slept. He was 49. Omdahl took her own life soon after. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org.
The Notorious B.I.G.
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The Notorious B.I.G., who won rap artist and rap single of the year, clutches his awards at the podium Dec. 6, 1995, during the annual Billboard Music Awards in New York. Six months after Shakur's death, rapper was killed in a similar drive-by shooting March 9, 1997, after he left a party in Los Angeles. He was 24. The murder of Shakur's friend-turned-rival, whose legal name was Christopher Wallace, remains unsolved.
Selena
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Selena performs July 31, 1994, on stage at Six Flags AstroWorld's Southern Star Amphitheater. Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, the Tejano music star known as Selena, was shot March 31, 1995, in a motel room in Corpus Christi, Texas. Selena, 23, identified her shooter as Yolanda Saldívar, manager of her clothing boutiques and president of her fan club, whom she'd suspected of embezzling money. Saldívar, who was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 30 years to life in prison, was denied parole in 2025.
John Lennon
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Singer John Lennon appears during a May 13, 1968, news conference at the Hotel Americana in New York. Mark David Chapman, a 25-year-old who had worked as a security guard, shot Lennon on Dec. 8, 1980, outside the Beatles star's apartment building in New York. Chapman said he considered Lennon a “phony” and was inspired by the main character of J.D. Salinger's novel, “The Catcher in the Rye.” Denied parole since 2000, Chapman remains in prison.
Jam Master Jay
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Jason Mizell, known as Jam Master Jay, poses Oct. 7, 1986, at New York's Madison Square Garden in New York. The rap musician and DJ for Run-DMC was 37 when he was shot and killed Oct. 30, 2002, in his recording studio in New York. The case stalled for years as investigators pursuing numerous leads struggled to get witnesses to open up. In 2024, jurors convicted Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington of killing the pioneering DJ in a case prosecutors described as revenge for a failed drug deal, but a judge on Dec. 19, 2025, voided Jordan's conviction.
Tupac Shakur
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Rapper Tupac Shakur attends an Aug. 15, 1996, voter registration event in South Central Los Angeles. Gunned down in a car in a drive-by shooting near the Las Vegas Strip on Sept. 7, 1996, the rapper and actor died in a hospital six days later. The trial for the only man charged in the killing, Duane “Keffe D” Davis, is set for early 2026. Davis is an ex-gang leader who was arrested in 2023. Accused of orchestrating the Shakur's killing, he pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.
