NIKA SCHOONOVER, Contributing Writer

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BROOKLYN, NY (CN)—Federal prosecutors aiming to get justice for the late hip-hop legend Jam Master Jay gave opening statements at trial on Monday, 20 years after the Run-DMC member was gunned down in his Queens recording studio.

 

Jason “Jay” Mizell was shot in the head and killed on Oct. 30, 2002. According to prosecutors, the defendants Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington conspired to kill Mizell after they were cut out of a drug deal. A third man, Jay Bryant, was also charged in connection with the murder last year but will be tried separately.

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“It was a brazen crime,” U.S. attorney Miranda Gonzalez told the court Monday. “The defendants had killed a world-famous musician in front of people who knew him and who they knew.”

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When the Eastern District of New York indictment was filed in August of 2020, Washington was already in prison for several robberies that occurred while he was on the run from the police after the shooting. He has served jail time for crimes including heroin distribution and armed robbery.

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Jordan had no criminal record when he was arrested in 2020, though prosecutors say he had been in the drug trade for years before.

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During openings, prosecutors described Mizell as a pillar of the community who was betrayed by his friends.

 

“Even as Run-DMC rose to fame, you’ll hear that Jason never forgot his roots,” Gonzalez said. She added that he would lend money to friends, let people use his studio for free and allow them to sleep at his family’s house if they didn’t have anywhere to go. When Run-DMC’s profits began to wane, Mizell turned to the drug trade to make money.

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Mizell often worked with Washington on these drug deals, according to Gonzalez, and had agreed to work on a particular deal with both Washington and Jordan to transport cocaine from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore. They expected to earn about $200,000 from the job. But the dealer in Baltimore refused to work with Wash- ington, who had lived in the city for several years.

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“Jordan and Washington were left with nothing,” Gonzalez said.

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Attorneys for Jordan and Washington said this case largely relies on memory from 20 years ago, which they say is unreliable.

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“This case will be about 10 seconds, 21 years ago,” Washington's attorney Ezra Spilke said during his open statement. “The whole case revolves around a blink of an eye, a generation ago.”

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Like Gonzalez, Spilke pointed to Washington's and Jordan’s longstanding friendships with Mizell. He added that Washington, who had been friends with him since childhood, was living at Mizell’s sister’s house around the time of the murder.

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“If that’s the case, why bite the hand that feeds you?” Spilke said. “Why kill the one person that you can depend on?”

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James Lusk, a detective who was called to the scene of Mizell’s death, was first called to the stand. When Lusk arrived at the scene, he testified, he saw Mizell on the floor. Another man, Tony Rincon, who had been shot in the leg and was curled up on the couch.

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Four other witnesses were at the scene, Lusk said, including Randy Allen, Mizell’s business partner, and Mizell’s sister Lydia High, whom Lusk said was crying in the hallway when he arrived at the scene. None of them identified the gunmen immediately after the shooting.

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Lusk said detectives on the scene found two shell casings near where the body was found, and two bullet holes on the radiator and wall behind where Mizell was shot.

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The jury will remain anonymous. Prosecutors wrote in a filing earlier this month that there has already been evidence of witness tampering and intimidating by defendants directly and by “those acting on their behalf.”

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The defendants face a minimum sentence of 20 years and a maximum of life in prison. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland directed the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York to not seek the death penalty.