A 3rd man has been charged in reference to the 2002 murder of Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay in New York City.
Jay Bryant, 49, was indicted on Tuesday in federal court in the Eastern District of New York and charged with the death of hip-hop legend whose real name is Jason “Jay” Mizell.
Two other men – Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington – were previously charged in August 2020 in the death of 37-year-old Mizell, who was shot to death in his recording studio after a drug deal went flawed on October 30. 2002.
Bryant’s attorney, César de Castro, told the Associated Press in an email that he and his client had just learned of the allegations.
Based on court documents, Bryant was already locked up on unrelated drug trafficking charges at the time of the indictment.
“Securing an indictment by a secret grand jury, with an especially low burden of proof, is one thing. Proving it at trial is one other matter,” he said.
Based on a letter filed with the court on Tuesday, Bryant, Jordan and Washington entered the studio around 7:30 p.m. on October 30, 2002.
Washington pointed the gun at the person inside and demanded that they lie down on the floor. Jordan then approached Mizell and fired two shots at close range. One shot fatally hit the rapper in the head. The second hit one other witness in the leg.
![Jam Master Jay](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/NYPICHPDPICT000011972007.jpg?w=686)
![Run-DMC](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/NYPICHPDPICT000011972000.jpg?w=1024)
All three fled the scene, in keeping with the prosecutor’s office.
Bryant was spotted entering the constructing just before the shots were fired, and the clothes he left behind contained his DNA.
He later admitted his involvement in the murder, telling one of the associates that “he was in fact the shooter”, nonetheless, prosecutors noted in a footnote that “the evidence doesn’t support Bryant’s claim that he was the shooter, and evidence at trial will prove that Jordan was the one that shot Mizell.
An official indictment date has not been set.
Mizell was in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group Run-DMC with Joseph “Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniel in the early Eighties.
A number of the group’s hits helped bring hip hop music into the mainstream, including “King of Rock”, “It’s Tricky” and Aerosmith’s remake of “Walk This Way”.
For years, Mizell’s death remained a closed case, with witnesses reluctant to talk out despite a money reward being offered.
With postal wires