A man who was indicted for the 2002 murder of Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay has pleaded guilty for his role in the shooting of the hip-hop pioneer.
Jay Bryant, 52, changed his plea on a federal murder charge Monday, April 27, in Brooklyn Federal Court, The Associated Press reports. When sentenced, he faces a minimum term of 15 years in prison and up to 20 years in prison. Bryant was originally indicted in May 2023, and had pleaded not guilty. His trial was set to start May 4, but a report earlier this month indicated that Bryant was considering changing his plea to guilty.
Bryant was the third man charged in Jam Master Jay’s death. The DJ, born Jason William Mizell, was shot over a failed drug deal at his recording studio in Queens in October 2002. He was 37.
“I knew a gun was going to be used to shoot Jason Mizell,” Bryant told a judge. “I knew that what I was doing was wrong and a crime.”
In 2024, a jury found Ronald Washington and Karl Jordan Jr. — Mizell’s godson — guilty in the murder. But last year a judge voided Jordan’s conviction after finding prosecutors were unable to prove a clear motive for Jordan. Washington has challenged his conviction, too.
As for Bryant, he confessed that he had slipped into the building and opened up a back door so that the suspects could catch Mizell off-guard. However, he did not name the other people allegedly involved in the shooting.
“More than two decades after the cold-blooded, execution-style killing of Mr. Mizell, an exhaustive investigation revealed Bryant’s role and today he finally admitted his guilt,” United States Attorney Joseph Nocella said in a press release. “The prosecutors in our Office and our law enforcement partners never give up, no matter how long it takes, in the pursuit of justice for the victim and the victim’s family.”
An attorney for Bryant declined to comment.
Bryant’s role in Mizell’s death was discovered after his DNA was found on a hat left behind at the recording studio. His role in the shooting was mentioned during Washington and Jordan’s trial, with a woman named Tana Davis placing Bryant at the crime scene. She said she observed a man matching his description walk through the building and later heard gun shots coming from the studio.
The extent of Bryant’s actual role in Mizell’s murder has been unclear. Prosecutors had argued that Washington had blocked the studio’s door and claimed that Jordan had been the shooter while Bryant had granted the men entry to the building.
However, Bryant’s uncle, Raymond Bryant, testified during the other men’s criminal trial that his nephew had confessed to the shooting. “He said he did it,” Raymond said. And defense lawyers for both Washington and Jordan claimed that Bryant was the alleged shooter.
Jam Master Jay was a founding member of the influential group, Run-DMC, alongside Joseph Simmons and Darryl McDaniels. With hit songs like “It’s Tricky,” “Walk this Way,” and “My Adidas,” the trio cemented the early sound and look of hip-hop and rap in the 1980s.
“The center of Run-D.M.C. was Jam Master Jay,” Public Enemy’s Chuck D told Rolling Stone in 2024. “He held it all together: the look, the attitude, the street wisdom, the credibility, the direction. And then he was a DJ. As a DJ, Jay was a precisionist. He made no mistakes. He was the best show DJ ever because he pretty much orchestrated it.”
