Source: Al Pereira / Getty
The newly charged third man suspected of killing Jam Master Jay is requesting a separate trial from the other two men in Brooklyn.
The attorney for Jay Bryant, who was recently charged with the 2002 death of the Hip-Hop icon, made the request of having a separate trial for his client with the goal of alleviating problems in scheduling for the court. Cesar de Castro also presented another reason. “Both of the other defendants will be pointing at us. They may be pointing at each other,” he said, referring to Ronald “Tinard” Washington and Karl Jordan Jr.
Bryant was charged by federal prosecutors in late May for his alleged role in the murder. The 49-year-old Queens man was already in custody and awaiting trial for another indictment involving drugs. De Castro made the request to Judge LaShann Dearcy Hall that his current schedule consists of several trials in addition to complex hearings, and it leaves him little time to thoroughly peruse the case as well as the DNA evidence provided by prosecutors. “I just want sufficient time, and the other two defendants in have had time,” he said.
The likelihood of Judge Hall granting that request is small, as he has already turned down a motion from Jordan’s attorney for a separate trial from Washington. The motion was made in the wake of Washington making comments about the case in a story on the murder in Playboy Magazine in 2003. But de Castro has affirmed that he will seek to file a severance motion due to the other defendants portraying antagonistic behavior.
The trial for Ronald “Tinard” Washington and Karl Jordan Jr. has been set for January 24th, 2024. Federal prosecutors have stated that the two men were incensed at Jam Master Jay aka Jason Mizell for cutting them out of a deal to acquire and distribute cocaine and that the murder at Jay’s recording studio on Merrick Boulevard in downtown Jamaica, Queens was executed out of revenge.