The Jam Master Jay murder case continued this week when attorneys for Karl Jordan Jr., the man convicted of killing the Run-DMC member — and whose conviction was then overturned — argued in front of a panel of appeals court judges that their client deserves to be let out on bail as his various legal cases play out.
Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall decided this past April that Jordan should be freed on a $1 million bail package while awaiting trial on other drug-related offenses. However, the government appealed that decision, and Jordan has remained behind bars as the appeal plays out. On Tuesday (Sept. 1), a three-judge panel in the Appeals Court’s Second Circuit heard both sides.
The hearing only focused on the bail decision. A separate appeal of the decision to overturn Jordan’s conviction is also winding through the Second Circuit, which the judges acknowledged.
“I hope you’re all aware, as experienced practitioners, that you can move to expedite consideration of the appeal, particularly in criminal cases where liberty is at stake,” said Judge William Nardini, per Courthouse News. “You don’t want it just sitting in the pile.”
During Tuesday’s hearing, AUSA Miranda Gonzalez said that DeArcy Hall “disregarded Jordan’s commission of the murder” in making her decision to release him on bail.
Jordan’s attorney Michael Hueston pointed out that one factor in DeArcy Hall’s decision was that his client hadn’t been involved in any violent incidents since 2004. He advocated that the Second Circuit judges should “[look] at this individual defendant, where he stands now, as opposed to where he stood.”
The judges did not issue an immediate decision. The other appeal Jordan is involved in, over the reversal of his conviction, is scheduled to move to oral arguments “as soon as is reasonably possible,” per an order from the Second Circuit.
In 2024, a jury found Jordan guilty of firing the bullet that killed Jam Master Jay back in 2002, and also convicted Ronald Washington of helping to orchestrate the killing. But in 2025, Judge Hall overturned Jordan’s conviction, ruling that prosecutors failed to present sufficient evidence showing he had a motive to kill the pioneering DJ.
In granting the acquittal, the judge sided with the defense's argument that the government did not prove that Jordan was part of a drug trafficking conspiracy that led to him shooting Mizell.
One additional participant in the killing, Jay Bryant, plead guilty this past April. No date has yet been set for his sentencing.
