Jay Bryant has pleaded guilty to his role in the 2002 murder of Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay, bringing a key breakthrough in a case that remained unresolved for more than two decades.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New York, Bryant faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison and up to 20 years for his role in the murder. Bryant entered the plea on April 27 in Brooklyn federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Peggy Cross-Goldenberg.
The plea also covers separate narcotics trafficking and firearms charges Bryant admitted to in December 2023.
“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,” said United States Attorney Joseph Nocella, Jr., in a written statement. “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.”
Bryant originally pleaded not guilty to the murder charge in 2023, but prosecutors informed the court that he would be accepting a plea deal.
He was charged alongside co-defendants Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington with killing Jason Mizell, known to the world as Jam Master Jay. Jordan and Washington were convicted in February 2024. In December 2025, a judge overturned Jordan’s conviction.
Bryant was indicted nearly three years after Jordan and Washington, after officials said that they found his DNA on a hat in Jay’s recording studio. Prosecutors said witnesses said Jordan was the shooter while Washington blocked the door during the shooting.
Prosecutors argued he helped the gunmen enter the building by opening a back door, though no witness placed him inside the room during the shooting.
Prosecutors suggested that Bryant touched the hat, leaving his DNA, and that Jordan or Washington then carried the hat into the studio and dropped it. Yet, neither Washington’s nor Jordan’s DNA was found on the hat. Prosecutors said the killing stemmed from a drug dispute after Mizell was cut out of a deal involving 10 kilograms of cocaine. Washington and Jordan were brought in on the deal.
After a disagreement between Washington and another person, Jay cut Washington and Jordan out of the deal, leading to the killing of the popular DJ.
No court date was revealed for Bryant’s sentencing.
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