NEW YORK — A Brooklyn judge rejected a bid for release Thursday by the man accused of shooting Run-DMC deejay Jam Master Jay to death in his Queens studio nearly 20 years ago.
Brooklyn Federal Court Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall denied Karl Jordan’s request for release on $1 million bond, saying that she believes the government has proven that he is a danger to the community if released.
“Tellingly, the defense did not address the nature and circumstances of the charged homicide offense,” Hall said. “The court cannot find that the defendant has met his burden with respect to dangerousness.”
Jordan is charged with shooting the rap pioneer, whose real name was Jason Mizell, in the head inside his Merrick Blvd. studio in Jamaica on Oct. 30, 2002.
Mizell was planning to sell cocaine in Maryland with Jordan, 38, and co-defendant Ronald Washington, but cut them from the deal at the last minute, prosecutors said. The pair allegedly decided to kill him over the snub.
Mizell, a Queens native, rose to fame in the early ′80s in Run-DMC with Joseph “Run” Simmons and Daryl “DMC” McDaniels.
Despite ruling in the prosecution’s favor, Hall rejected arguments that Jordan’s violent rap song lyrics should affect whether or nor he remains behind bars.
“I will not consider the defendants rap lyrics or other artistic expression,” she said. “This court will not punish individuals for merely being participants in an industry that incentivizes the use of such language.”
In one of Jordan’s songs, “Aim for the Head,” he bragged, “I aim for the head, I ain’t a body shooter.”
The songs and a video Jordan shot in front of a Hollis, Queens, mural dedicated to Mizell were cited in a prosecution court filing last month, pleading that Jordan remained locked until he goes to trial.
Hall took issue with the defense citing prosecutors not seeking the death penalty for Jordan as a way to spring their client.
“The defendant suggested the government’s decision not to pursue death penalty is evidence the defendant is not a danger to the community…. I cannot reject this argument in stronger terms,” she said. “This logic is not only flawed, it is dangerous.”
Jordan and Washington, 57, have been charged with murder.
