David Ushery (00:00):
Some breaking news at four o’clock. A guilty verdict just handed up in the Jam Master Jay murder trial. I’m David Ushery.
Natalie Pasquarella (00:05):
I’m Natalie Pasquarella, News 4. Erica Byfield live outside of court in Lower Manhattan with these breaking details. Erica.
Erica Byfield (00:14):
That’s right, Natalie. There are actually two defendants in this case. Both of them were found guilty on the two counts that are in this case. One of them related to a drug conspiracy charge and murder. The other one related to a weapons charge in addition to that murder. The person they are accused of murdering is Jam Master Jay. He is the prolific hip-hop DJ associated with the group Run-DMC. I’ll tell you, this trial lasted about a month or so. There were some fireworks, actually, after this verdict was read inside the courtroom today. This happened today around 3:30 this afternoon. One of the defendants jumped up and he said, “Y’all just killed some innocent people.” And then he shouted, “Get me out of here.”
(00:49)
As he was being escorted out of the courtroom, the other co-defendant in this case, he yelled out, “I love y’all,” addressing his family that was there in the courtroom. And then we heard many of his family members start yelling things back like, “The jury didn’t listen to the facts in this case.” A woman yelled out, “That’s my son.” We started hearing, “Don’t touch me. You all know he didn’t do that.” That is when the US Marshals swooped in. There was some pushing, there was a little bit of shoving, and then they escorted all of those family members out of the courtroom. So it was kind of chaotic there at the very end.
(01:18)
But again, this case revolves around the murder of Jam Master Jay. He was killed in October of 2002. He was actually in his Queens recording studio at the time. For years, the two eyewitnesses to this crime, they refused to say what they saw. Both Lydia High and Tony Rincon testified, though, at this trial. They told the jurors that they saw two gunmen that night. They say that Jam Master Jay’s godson, Karl Jordan Jr., pulled the trigger, and Jay’s good friend, childhood buddy Ronald Washington was the one at the door with another gun. High and Rincon’s testimony obviously must have been quite an impact here on this jury. They said for a long time they didn’t speak up and say what they knew at the time because they were scared, they were afraid for their lives.
(01:59)
The federal prosecutors in this case ultimately charged three people in addition to Jordan and Washington. They charged a third man who’s going to be tried separately. That person was also there at the scene, but they say he was just a decoy that night so that Jordan and Washington could slip inside that recording studio and kill Jam Master Jay. The prosecutor said all along they think the motive for this was greed and revenge because Mizell, that is Jam Master Jay’s real name, Jason Mizell, cut Jordan and Washington out of a drug deal. So again, this jury made this decision. And just a short time ago, and actually right now, maybe it just wrapped up seconds ago, a family member of Jam Master Jay was here and he was speaking to the media. Here’s what he told us.
Carlis Thompson (02:43):
Jason himself was an amazing talent. His life ended far, far too soon, and I’m just glad that justice was served.
Erica Byfield (02:59):
So for most of this trial, he sat there, right there in the front row sitting probably the closest out of all of us to the jury. I was normally in the second or third row and I saw him taking notes. He is one of two cousins who are here. That is because Jam Master Jay’s immediate family, all of them are deceased. So he said he wanted to be here as representative for what is happening with this family.
(03:19)
I told you about the chaos that happened in the courtroom. We have not seen those family members of defendant Jordan come out yet. We’re waiting to see what will happen there, but again, very chaotic at the end. We’re waiting to see what happened. And we are expecting additional speakers to come out and tell us about their thoughts on this case. And we’ll bring you those interviews just as soon as we get them. Reporting live in Brooklyn. Erica Byfield, News 4, New York.