After 24 Years, a Guilty Plea in Jam Master Jay Killing

Nearly a quarter-century after rap star Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC was shot to death, a man admitted in court Monday to a role in a killing that stymied investigators for decades. Jay Bryant pleaded guilty to a federal murder charge, telling a judge that he helped other people get into a recording studio to ambush the DJ, born Jason Mizell. "I knew a gun was going to be used to shoot Jason Mizell," Bryant told a federal magistrate. "I knew that what I was doing was wrong and a crime." The plea was the first time anybody has publicly acknowledged a role in Mizell's death, reports the New York Times.

• Bryant's admission brings some closure—but also adds complexity—to a knotty case, the AP reports. Bryant didn't name the other people with whom he acted. A jury in 2024 convicted two other men, Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington, yet a judge subsequently cleared Jordan.

• Washington has also challenged his conviction. His lawyer, Susan Kellman, noted Monday that evidence against Bryant included his DNA on a hat at the crime scene and witness testimony that Bryant once claimed he fired the gun himself. Jordan's lawyers declined to comment.
• Bryant, 52, is expected to face a sentence somewhere between 15 and 20 years in prison for his role in the killing plus unrelated drug and gun charges to which he pleaded guilty earlier. No sentencing date has been set.
• Mizell handled the turntables in Run-DMC, a pathbreaking trio he formed with friends Darryl "DMC" McDaniels and Joseph Simmons, known as DJ Run and Rev. Run. With such 1980s hits as "It's Tricky," "My Adidas," and a version of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way," they helped rap climb the ladder from an urban genre into mainstream popularity.
• At 37, Mizell was gunned down in his studio in the Queens neighborhood where he'd grown up. Jordan and Washington—Mizell's godson and old friend, respectively—were arrested in 2020. Prosecutors said the men were bitter about losing out on a piece of a failed cocaine deal that Mizell had tried to line up. Though Run-DMC was known for its anti-drug message, prosecutors and a trial witness said the DJ moonlighted in the cocaine trade in his later years to cover his bills and keep being generous to friends after music money dried up somewhat.

• According to prosecutors and trial witnesses, Jordan shot Mizell while Washington blocked the door during the shooting and ordered one of Mizell's aides to get on the ground. Both men denied the allegations. Jordan's attorneys said he was at his girlfriend's home when the DJ was shot, and Washington's lawyers said he had no incentive to kill the famous friend who helped him financially. Nearly three years after their arrests, prosecutors abruptly brought Bryant into their picture of the killing. "More than two decades after the coldblooded, execution-style killing of Mr. Mizell, an exhaustive investigation revealed Bryant's role," said US Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr.
• Saying that Bryant's DNA had been found on a hat in the studio and that he'd been seen entering the building, prosecutors added him to the murder indictment. He was already jailed on the drug and gun case. Bryant had been set to go on trial later this year, reports the New York Times.
• Bryant knew someone in common with Jordan and Washington, according to testimony at their trial. But unlike them, Bryant had little, if any, connection to Mizell. Bryant said in court Monday that he was connected with people who were involved in a cocaine deal with the DJ and that he "helped them kill Jason Mizell by helping them gain entry to the recording studio."
• Bryant's uncle has said his nephew told him he shot Mizell after the artist reached for a gun. But no one else testified that Bryant even entered the studio. Instead, prosecutors contended that Bryant was enlisted to make his way into the studio building and open a back fire door, allowing Washington and Jordan to walk in without buzzing up and alerting Mizell they were coming.