Federal prosecutors have appealed the acquittal of Karl Jordan Jr. in the 2002 murder of Jam Master Jay as the long-running case continues to evolve more than two decades after the famed DJ was killed.
Prosecutors went to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to formally challenge the judge’s post-verdict acquittal order and does not yet include detailed legal arguments, which are expected in later filings.
Jordan, the godson of Jam Master Jay, had been convicted in February 2024 along with co-defendant Ronald “Tinard” Washington.
Both men had been found guilty of murder while engaged in narcotics trafficking for the October 2002 shooting in Jay’s Queens recording studio. The conviction appeared to bring long-sought justice in one of Hip-Hop’s most notorious cold cases.
But Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall granted Jordan a rare judgment of acquittal late last year, siding with his attorneys that prosecutors did not present sufficient evidence linking him to a clear motive for murder.
The judge’s ruling erased Jordan’s convictions on the two murder counts, prompting this appeal by the government. In contrast, Washington’s efforts to overturn his own conviction failed before the same judge.
The court denied his motions for a judgment of acquittal and a new trial, and his convictions remain intact. Washington is in jail awaiting sentencing.
Meanwhile, a third man, Jay Bryant, remains scheduled for trial in connection with the killing.
Prosecutors charged Bryant in 2023, pointing to his alleged role in allowing Jordan and Washington into the studio through a back entrance and placing his DNA on evidence found at the scene. Bryant has pleaded not guilty and is set to face a separate federal trial in 2026.
The appeal now before the Second Circuit will test whether a judge can set aside a jury’s guilty verdict when motive evidence is contested.
If prosecutors succeed, Jordan’s conviction could be reinstated without a new trial. If the appeal fails, the acquittal stands and Jordan cannot be retried because of double jeopardy protections.
No briefing schedule or hearing date has been set.