Prosecutors in New York have announced that a third man has been accused of killing Run-DMC icon Jam Master Jay.
The 49-year-old Queens resident Jay Bryant, who was already in detention on separate federal narcotics charges, disputes the new accusations.
A masked guy shot Jam Master Jay in the head in his studio in 2002.
Two additional men, Ronald Washington, and Karl Jordan Jr., were accused of killing him in 2020. They had already entered a not-guilty plea, and their trial is scheduled for January 2024.
For over two decades, the murder of the pioneering hip-hop DJ, whose true name was Jason Mizell, had gone unsolved.
The New York Times confirms the news on its official Twitter account:
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn on Tuesday charged a Queens man with murder in the 2002 killing of the pioneering hip-hop D.J. Jam Master Jay, bringing to three the number of people accused of taking part in the slaying. https://t.co/O4g0TKl8zt
— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 31, 2023
After his passing, the influential group he co-founded with Joseph “Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniel, known for songs like It’s Tricky, It’s Like That, and the Aerosmith-inspired Walk This Way, disbanded.
Reading the California Examiner is a great way to make sure you know about all the latest news:
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The musician was allegedly assassinated “in cold blood” after a high-stakes cocaine deal he was involved in fell through, according to testimony given in court earlier.
Tuesday, Mr. Bryant’s lawyer, César de Castro, declared that his client will reject the accusations.
“Securing an indictment in a secret grand jury, applying an extremely low burden of proof, is one thing,” he declared. “How you prove it in court is another thing.”
He is accused of murder while involved in drug trafficking as well as other drug-related offenses.
Prosecutors said in a document submitted to the court that Mr. Bryant and the other two men had been observed entering and leaving the premises after the shooting and that his DNA had been found at the site.
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