The judge from the trial involving the murder of Michael Jordan’s father, James Jordan, said that he has been haunted by the verdict for nearly 30 years and has asked for the convicted killer to be released.
James Jordan was murdered on the side of the highway in North Carolina in 1993 as he was sleeping in his car in the passenger seat.
In 1996, Daniel Green was convicted and sentenced to life in prison by judge Gregory Weeks after his co-defendant, Larry Demery, testified as a witness for the prosecution that Green pulled the trigger.
In a stunning development to the case, Weeks petitioned North Carolina’s parole commission for Green’s release, according to ABC News.
Rev. Thomas Jones, a criminal justice advocate, also lobbied for Green’s release, and was blown away by what the judge told the commission.
“When I heard the judge speak on his behalf, I was weeping,” Jones told ABC News. “I was flabbergasted.”
Jones also relayed that Weeks, the longtime judge, told the commission that he “had never been haunted in such a manner as he was haunted by this case.”
The key part of the judge’s concern with the verdict was that an analyst who testified in the case did not disclose that blood tests from the vehicle came back inconclusive or negative.
Green, who was 18 at the time of Jordan’s slaying, told the outlet that Demery, his childhood friend and co-defendant, told him he was leaving a cookout they were at to make a drug deal.
When Demery returned, Green claimed, he asked Green for help disposing of the body.
Jordan’s body was ultimately found in South Carolina, about 60 miles from his abandoned vehicle.
Green admitted to assisting Demery in dumping Jordan’s body but has denied involvement in the murder.
Prosecutors at the time believed that Jordan’s killing was a result of a robbery that went wrong.
“Every day I live with the remorse and the pain and the suffering caused by my youthful decisions. I regret the harm my actions inflicted on the Jordan family,” Green said in a letter to the parole commission.
A North Carolina Department of Adult Correction spokesperson told ABC News that the commission “is expected to deliberate for at least one month” on whether to release Green.
News Summary:
- Judge in Michael Jordan’s dad’s murder case thinks wrong man might’ve been convicted
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