EXCLUSIVE: Jam Master Jay Conspirator Loses Bid To Get A New Trial

Ronald Washington is facing a life sentence as the court again refused to grant a new trial for his role in Jam Master Jay’s killing.

Ronald “Tinard” Washington lost his latest bid to undo his conviction in the 2002 killing of Run-DMC icon Jam Master Jay after a federal judge ruled the jury verdict was firmly supported by the evidence and the law.

A judge in Brooklyn denied Washington’s motions for acquittal and a new trial, rejecting claims that prosecutors failed to prove an ongoing drug conspiracy or a drug-related motive for the murder of Jam Master Jay inside his Hollis, Queens, recording studio.

The ruling keeps intact Washington’s February 2024 convictions for murder while engaged in narcotics trafficking and a firearm-related killing.

The court found ample proof that Jam Master Jay, whose music career had slowed in the late 1990s, was operating as a cocaine middleman at the time of his death.

In 2003, AllHipHop’s Grouchy Greg Watkins uncovered the conspiracy and over 20 years later, trial testimony showed Jam Master Jay obtained cocaine on consignment from a supplier known as “Uncle,” then distributed it through associates.

Federal filings and trial evidence linked Jam Master Jay’s cocaine supply to the Black Mafia Family, with BMF co-founder Terry “Southwest T” Flenory identified as the source behind “Uncle,” the supplier referenced at trial.

Investigators said JMJ was moving cocaine tied to the BMF pipeline, placing him squarely inside a high-stakes distribution network that extended beyond New York. Prosecutors argued JMJ’s killing stemmed from a drug dispute after Jam Master Jay failed to secure a lucrative Baltimore distribution arrangement that Washington expected to join.

The judge agreed a reasonable jury could infer retaliation as at least one motive tied directly to the drug operation, which is all the law requires. That context undercut Washington’s argument that the conspiracy fizzled before the murder.

The judge pointed to evidence that Jam Master Jay was still arranging meetings with his supplier’s associates days before he was killed and had not paid for the cocaine he already received, reinforcing the finding that the drug operation remained active.

The ruling also revisited the violent scene inside the studio on October 30, 2002. Witnesses testified that Jay Bryant, a man, permitted Washington and Jordan to enter his studio through a fire escape door.

Jordan then approached Jam Master Jay as if for an embrace, then fired the fatal shots, while Washington blocked exits at gunpoint.

The order leaves Washington facing mandatory life sentences tied to the narcotics-murder convictions, closing another chapter in a case that took more than two decades to reach trial.

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