A date for Jam Master Jay’s murder trial, 20 years on from his death, has been set for this September.
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The Run-DMC rapper (real name Jason Mizell) was fatally shot inside his Jamaica, Queens recording studio at the age of 37 in 2002.
It was a cold case until 2020 when police, the FBI and other law enforcement bodies indicted two men, Ronald Washington and Karl Jordan Jr., on charges of murder.
According to AllHipHop, jury selection for the case will start on September 22, while opening statements and testimony will commence on September 26.
If the COVID pandemic causes any issues then a backup trial date will be set for February 2023. The government expects the trial to last roughly two weeks.
Washington is currently serving a federal prison sentence for robbery, while Jordan was taken into custody in August 2020.
Acting US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Seth DuCharme announced that a grand jury had returned an incitement alleging that the two defendants were responsible for the murder on October 30, 2002.
“They shot him in cold blood,” DuCharme said in a press conference at the time. “Our office along with our federal partners and the NYPD started working that case in the early 2000s, very soon after the murder and there were a lot of challenges that we faced right away. In fact, one of the first cases that I worked on when I was here as a prosecutor in 2008 was this very case. These gentleman and our team were able to accomplish what I was frankly not then able to accomplish.
Jam Master Jay murder briefing
WATCH LIVE: Officials hold a press conference to announce the indictment of two men in the 2002 unsolved murder of Jam Master Jay, the D.J. for the rap group Run-DMC. https://abc7.ws/3awfN3z
Posted by ABC 7 Chicago on Monday, August 17, 2020
“It’s really through their hard work and the work of the Queens cold case detectives squad, the FBI who was with us at the outset and the ATF [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] who had joined us along the way, really, really never gave up on this case.
“It was important to us then and it remains extremely to us now to bring justice to the victim, his family and his friends and the community that cared so much about those events.”
Jam Master Jay, along with Joseph Run Simmons and Darryl ‘DMC’ McDaniel, was part of Run-DMC, who are best known for their hits ‘It’s Tricky’, ‘Christmas In Hollis’ and their Aerosmith remake collaboration ‘Walk This Way’.
Meanwhile, last year Run-DMC‘s Rev Run shared a post of himself pulling up next to a fan in traffic and rapping the lyrics to ‘It’s Tricky’.
The rapper – also known as Joseph Simmons – took to Instagram to share the clip, which you can view here, and wrote: “Lol. Made his day. Lol. Made my DAY.”