Photo credit: Jeff Pinilla / CC from 3.0
A third man has now been charged with the murder of Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay – the latest development in a long believed case.
Federal prosecutors in New York on Tuesday filed charges against 49-year-old Jay Bryant, who shot and killed Jason Mizell, better known as Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay, in 2002. The newest Development In a case that has been silent for years, Bryant is now the third person to be charged in Mizell’s death.
The other two men, Ronald Washington and Karl Jordan Jr., were charged in August 2020 with their involvement in the death of Mizell, who was shot in the head at his studio on October 30, 2002.
“Securing an indictment by a secret grand jury and applying an extremely light burden of proof is one thing. It’s another thing to prove it in court,” said Bryant’s attorney, César de Castro, who revealed in an email that he and his client only just learned about the allegations. Bryant was already in custody on unrelated federal drug charges.
During the arraignment against Washington and Jordan, authorities said Jay’s death was related to a drug deal that “went wrong.” In a letter filed with the court on Tuesday, prosecutors said Bryant and the other two men entered the building and fled after the shooting. According to prosecutors, Bryant was seen entering the building and his DNA was recovered from the scene.
Jam Master Jay, along with Joseph “Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniel, was one-third of the group Run-DMC, which dominated the early 1980s and helped bring hip-hop music into the mainstream. Their hits included “King of Rock,” “It’s Tricky,” and a remix of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way.”
For years, Jay’s death remained an unsolved case, and witnesses were reluctant to comment, despite being offered a reward for information.