Man Admits Role in 2002 Killing of Run-DMC DJ Jam Master Jay

Jay Bryant’s plea carries a potential sentence of 15 to 20 years in prison, which also encompasses separate narcotics trafficking and firearms charges.

Run-DMC’s Jason Mizell, Jam Master Jay, poses with teenagers gathered at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Oct. 7, 1986. G. Paul Burnett/AP Photo

A man has pleaded guilty in federal court for his role in the 2002 killing of Jason Mizell, the influential DJ pioneering hip-hop group Run-DMC, marking a significant development in a case that remained unresolved for years.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Jay Bryant, 52, admitted to a firearm-related murder charge tied to the fatal shooting of Mizell inside a recording studio in Jamaica, Queens, New York. During a plea hearing on Monday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Peggy Cross-Goldenberg in Brooklyn, New York, Bryant acknowledged his involvement in helping others gain access to the building where the attack occurred.