The man accused of fatally shooting hip-hop pioneer Jam Master Jay wants to be tried separately from his co-defendant based on statements the other man made in a 2003 Playboy magazine story about the murder, his attorneys wrote Tuesday.
Karl Jordan, 38, broke into the Run-DMC DJ’s Queens studio on Oct. 30, 2002, and shot Jam Master Jay while Ronald Washington provided cover, prosecutors claimed when they indicted the duo in 2020.
But 10 months after the shooting, Washington told a Playboy writer that it was Jordan and his father, Darren Jordan, who perpetrated the late-night murder of Jay, whose real name was Jason Mizell.
Washington said he heard three shots fired as he approached the studio at Mizell’s request — then saw Karl Jordan fleeing the scene via a fire escape.
“I’m positive it was Little D [Karl Jordan]. I looked him right in his face before he ran off,” Washington said in Playboy. “Little D told me, ‘My pops wasn’t supposed to shoot Jay. That wasn’t supposed to happen.’ “
Jordan’s defense attorneys now say that Washington’s 19-year-old comments mean the duo should be tried separately.
“It is anticipated that the government will seek to use Washington’s statements to prove its case against both men. There is no question that the statement by Washington accusing Mr. Jordan of being present at the scene of the murder incriminates Mr. Jordan,” wrote Michael Hueston in a motion to split Washington and Jordan’s case in two.
Hueston also said the two should be tried separately so that Jordan could cross-examine Washington over the statements if necessary.
Washington and Jordan are accused of scheming to shoot the musician in the head in his Queens studio after Mizell allegedly cut the duo out of a large-scale cocaine deal.
Mizell became a star in the early 1980s as part of Run-DMC, along with Joseph “Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels.
His murder was a cold case for 18 years until federal prosecutors announced the arrests of Washington and Jordan.
Both men had been suspects since shortly after the murder.
Washington filed a motion in Brooklyn Federal Court to dismiss the indictment. Jordan’s Tuesday motion also called for dismissal.
