Jay Bryant, one of three men charged in the 2002 killing of Run-DMC DJ Jam Master Jay, has signaled his intent to plead guilty in federal court, according to court records reviewed Thursday — a development that would mark the first admission anyone has made in court to any role in the death of Jason Mizell more than two decades after he was gunned down in his Queens, New York, recording studio.
Bryant’s attorney and federal prosecutors told the court in recent letters that they were negotiating a plea agreement, the Associated Press reported. A court docket entry Thursday indicated that Bryant intends to change his plea, though the entry did not specify the charge or conduct to which he might admit, or the punishment he might expect. No date was set for a change-of-plea hearing. Prosecutors declined to comment, and a message was sent to Bryant’s attorney.
A guilty plea by Bryant would be the first courtroom acknowledgment of culpability in Mizell’s death, a case that has wound through the federal courts for more than two decades, producing a jury conviction later overturned by a judge for one co-defendant and a standing conviction for the other — while the question of how Bryant fits into the conspiracy has never been resolved in court.
A complicated case
The court notice is not an irreversible commitment, according to the AP. Defendants can change their minds about pleading guilty even while sitting in court.
Bryant’s co-defendants Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington were convicted by a jury. Jordan’s conviction was later overturned by a judge for reasons unrelated to Bryant’s case. Washington’s conviction stands.
Bryant had been something of an outlier in the proceedings from the start. He was indicted in 2023, nearly three years after Jordan and Washington, after authorities said his DNA was found on a hat in the music studio where Mizell was killed. Court papers show that neither Washington’s nor Jordan’s DNA was found on the hat.
The prosecution’s theory
By the time Bryant was charged, prosecutors had long since laid out their theory of the killing: that Jordan and Washington — both of whom were close to Mizell — went after him out of anger over a failed drug deal. According to prosecutors and trial witnesses, Jordan allegedly shot the DJ while Washington allegedly blocked the door and ordered one of Mizell’s associates to the ground. Both men denied the allegations.
After the alleged DNA match, prosecutors contended that Bryant had slipped into the studio building and opened a back fire door, allowing Washington and Jordan to enter without being buzzed in and ambush Mizell.
Conflicting accounts of Bryant’s role
Bryant’s alleged role was the subject of sharply conflicting accounts, even among the government’s own witnesses.
Bryant’s uncle, who testified as a prosecution witness, claimed Bryant told him he had shot Mizell after Mizell reached for a gun. No other witnesses placed Bryant inside the studio, however, and prosecutors differed with the uncle’s account. Rather than adopt the uncle’s version, they suggested that Bryant had merely touched the hat and that Jordan or Washington had then carried it into the studio — a theory offered to explain the DNA match without putting Bryant at the shooting itself.
One of Jordan’s attorneys, Michael Hueston, argued at trial that the charges against Bryant raised reasonable doubt about the case against Jordan.
Background
Jason Mizell performed as Jam Master Jay, the DJ in Run-DMC who crafted beats and scratches that helped propel rap into music’s mainstream in the 1980s. The group’s hits included “It’s Tricky” and a version of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way.” He was killed in 2002.
Bryant, now 52, was already jailed on federal drug and gun charges when he was indicted in Mizell’s death. He has since pleaded guilty in the drug and firearm case and is awaiting sentencing.