Judge grants bond for man acquitted of Jam Master Jay murder, issues warning: ‘I don’t play’

BROOKLYN (CN) — A Queens man, once convicted of killing Run-DMC DJ Jam Master Jay, is a step closer to freedom after a federal judge granted his bail application on Monday, just over three months after reversing his guilty verdict.

Karl Jordan Jr. was found guilty in 2024 of murdering the hip-hop icon, whose birth name was Jason Mizell, in a 2002 shooting in Queens, New York. But late last year, U.S. District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall issued a stunning ruling that overturned Jordan’s conviction, finding the government failed to present evidence that Mizell’s murder was drug-related.

That doomed its case, the judge ruled, since the government had argued Jordan’s motive for the shooting was a drug deal gone sour.

On Monday, Hall approved Jordan’s $1 million bond package, finding that he does not pose a flight risk or a danger to the community. And the judge wasn’t aware of any violent incidents during Jordan’s five years in federal detention, “notwithstanding Mr. Jordan was the victim of a violent attack,” she said, referencing a 2025 incident in which Jordan was stabbed 18 times by an inmate at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center.

Still, Hall issued a warning to Jordan, urging him not to make her regret her decision by breaking the law or ditching future court dates.

“Bond is about you giving me your word,” she said.

“You have my word,” Jordan insisted.

Hall then turned to the three rows of Jordan’s supporters in the courtroom, many of them among the 17 friends and family members backing his seven-figure bond. Two are putting up their homes, while others offered their “modest” salaries, the judge noted.

“If Mr. Jordan proves me wrong, I will not hesitate in the least to ensure that the government acts on the collateral in this bond package,” Hall said. “You all know I don’t play … We all understand folks?”

The crowd agreed.

Jordan, who was Mizell’s godson, is still behind bars for the time being. The judge stayed her order until Friday to give the government the chance to appeal the ruling to the Second Circuit. If prosecutors don’t challenge the order, Jordan could be freed by the end of the week.

At a five-week trial in 2024, prosecutors argued that Jordan, upset that he was being cut out of a $200,000 drug deal, fired the bullet that killed Mizell at a Queens recording studio. The man charged alongside him for the murder, Ronald Washington, a close friend to Mizell, stood by the door and ordered Mizell’s manager to the ground at gunpoint, the government claimed.

Washington, who was tried and convicted alongside Jordan, remains jailed for Mizell’s murder. His conviction still stands.

Prosecutors had claimed that Mizell was in the process of “setting up” Jordan and Washington to sell drugs outside of Baltimore, before the plan went awry and the two men plotted to kill Mizell instead. But in her ruling last year, Hall ruled that the government failed to connect the dots between Jordan’s supposed involvement in narcotics trafficking and Mizell’s shooting.

“In this case, there is simply no evidence suggesting that Jordan felt cheated by the failure of the Baltimore deal, was disappointed by the proceeds he received from the conspiracy, or sought to steal cocaine from Mizell, much less motivated to kill Mizell because of these reasons,” the Barack Obama appointee said.

At trial, prosecutors claimed that Washington and Jordan both confessed to the murder. According to witness testimony, both men discussed being involved in Mizell’s shooting while they were in prison.

Jordan’s former roommate, Cherubin Bastien, also testified that he overheard Jordan tell a friend, “If I got to kill him, I’ll kill him again,” in reference to Mizell.

Jordan still faces up to 15 years in prison for outstanding drug charges related to the incident, for which he is yet to be tried.

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