BROOKLYN (CN) — U.S. District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall denied a motion for mistrial Thursday in the Jam Master Jay murder case, in which prosecutors claim the two men accused shot the Run-DMC DJ in his Queens recording studio after a drug deal went sour.
The mistrial motion came during witness testimony from defendant Ronald Washington’s ex-girlfriend, Daynia McDonald, who said Washington confessed to killing the artist, whose real name is Jason Mizell, while the pair were in a hotel room the day after the murder.
Prosecutors claim Washington, alongside Karl Jordan Jr., conspired to kill Mizell on Oct. 30, 2002, after being cut out of a drug deal worth approximately $200,000.
“And explain to the jury what he said about Jam Master Jay,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Misorek asked McDonald.
“I was concerned for my safety, so I asked him if he had something to do with it,” McDonald said. “And he basically said yes.”
But Misorek’s following questions — “did he say he killed Jam Master Jay?” and “did he say people got what they deserved?” — were struck from the record after Hall determined prosecutors were leading the witness.
Though Hall earlier gave federal prosecutors permission to lead the witness to prevent testimony pertaining to other “violent acts or crimes” Washington might have divulged to McDonald, Hall added, the U.S. attorneys did not expressly ask for permission to lead McDonald in respect to Washington’s admission of the murder.
“This leaves us no choice but to ask for a mistrial and a mistrial with prejudice,” said Susan Kellman, Washington’s attorney.
Federal prosecutors disagreed and said they had discussed leading the witness with defense attorneys Wednesday.
Hall said there seemed to be a miscommunication between the U.S. government’s attorneys and defense counsel and held that the U.S. attorneys failed to inform the court how they were intending to lead the witness.
“Nothing in the representation to the court… said you were going to lead the witness as to the admission of the murder,” Hall said.
Though Hall’s expressed frustration at the government’s line of questioning, it didn't warrant a mistrial, the judge determined over Kellman's objections: “In my view that’s not curable, it plants a view of prejudice in the jury’s mind,” Kellman said.
McDonald also testified Thursday that on the day of Mizell’s murder, she went to his recording studio with Washington earlier in the day. He brought a gun with him, but told her "it's not real," she testified.
When they got to Mizell’s studio, McDonald said she noticed that Mizell also had a gun and Washington asked why he had it on him.
“The expression on Jam Master Jay’s face was an ‘oh shit’ kind of look,” McDonald testified.
Then, she added, Mizell removed the gun from his hip and placed it on the couch. Shortly after, McDonald said, she and Washington went to get chocolate, grapes and Hennessy to eat with Mizell at the studio.
But while they were shopping for the snacks, she said Washington took a call at a nearby phone booth. When he finished up the call, he told her she needed to leave.
McDonald said she didn’t see Washington for the rest of the day, but he called her later that night and told her Mizell was dead.
“I was like, ‘How do you know?'” McDonald said. “And he’s like, ‘because I was there.’”
If found guilty, the defendants face a minimum of 20 years and a maximum of life in prison. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland directed the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District not to seek the death penalty.
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