Jury selection began on Monday in the trial of the two men charged in the 2002 fatal shooting of Jam Master Jay, a member of the legendary hip-hop group Run-DMC.
The defendants, Karl Jordan Jr, 40, and Ronald Washington, 59, are accused of murdering the musician over a drug deal. Opening statements were expected in a state courthouse in Brooklyn after the jury is selected.
Jordan and Washington have pleaded not guilty. If convicted, the men face at least 20 years in prison. The death penalty is not a possibility for the defendants, the government has said.
Jordan also faces gun and cocaine charges in the trial, to which he has also pleaded not guilty. Although he has no prior adult criminal record, prosecutors claim they have footage of him selling cocaine to an undercover agent and further participated in drug trafficking.
Jam Master Jay, born Jason Mizell, died at the age of 37 after he was gunned down in a recording studio in his Queens neighborhood. His murder remained unsolved until authorities arrested Jordan and Washington in 2020.
A third suspect, 49-year-old Jay Bryant, was also arrested in 2023 in connection to the killing but is being tried separately.
Run-DMC, often credited for thrusting hip-hop into the mainstream in the 1980s, saw Jay join rappers Joe “Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels for hit songs such as It’s Tricky. The group soared to fame after performing Aerosmith’s Walk This Way in 1986, which blended together rap and rock genres.
Run-DMC was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009 and were the first rappers featured prominently on MTV and the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.
“Two turntables and a microphone – that’s all it took to change the world,” the rapper Eminem said of the group when inducting them into the hall of fame.
Although Run-DMC incorporated an anti-drug stance in their lyrics and public service announcements, prosecutors allege Jay became involved in trafficking cocaine in the mid-1990s. They say he acquired 10kgs (22lbs) which Jordan, Washington and others had planned to sell before a dispute led to Jay cutting Washington out. Washington and Jordan then allegedly shot Jay dead in his recording studio in Jamaica, Queens, in New York City on 30 October 2002.
Authorities offered a $60,000 reward for information related to Jay’s death, but witnesses remained silent and the trail of clues in the case went cold.
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Eventually, some witnesses identified Washington and Jordan as Jay’s killers. Prosecutors say Washington, who was named as a suspect in 2007, confirmed his involvement in the murder through statements to law enforcement.
At the time, Washington was also on trial for a string of armed robberies, which he denies.
Washington is quoted in a 2003 Playboy magazine article titled The Last Days Of Jam Master Jay – he said the night Jay was murdered, he was heading to Jay’s studio when he heard gunshots and saw Jordan fleeing.
Lawyers for Jordan have said his and Jay’s families were neighbors and that their fathers were friends. They maintain that witnesses saw Jordan, then 18, at his pregnant girlfriend’s house at the time of Jay’s murder.
The Associated Press contributed reporting