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New attorney hopes for new trial for man convicted of killing Michael Jordan's father

The man convicted of killing Michael Jordan's father in 1993 appeared in Lee County court Friday morning to request a new trial and ask that his attorney be removed from the case.

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By
Amanda Lamb
, WRAL reporter
LEE COUNTY, N.C. — The man convicted of killing Michael Jordan’s father in 1993 appeared in Lee County court Friday morning to request a new trial and ask that his attorney be removed from the case.

Daniel Green has been trying to get his case back in front of a judge for 18 years, filing his first motion for appropriate relief in 2000.

Green says he’s innocent and his attorney believes there is evidence to prove it.

Friday’s hearing centered on Green wanting to have one of his attorneys removed from the case. After nine years, Scott Holmes voluntarily withdrew as Green’s attorney.

Chris Mumma, with the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence, will now take over as Green’s lead attorney.

“When I became familiar with the full facts of the case, I became convinced he is not guilty of the murder of James Jordan, that he was not there when James Jordan was murdered, he was not part of a robbery of James Jordan, all things he was convicted of,” Mumma said.

James Jordan was killed on July 23, 1993, in North Carolina, and his body was found 11 days later in a South Carolina swamp.

Green and Larry Demery were convicted in 1996, but Demery testified at their trial that Green was the one who shot Jordan as he slept in his luxury car in Robeson County.

Demery came to Green’s house in the middle of the night and said he shot someone in self-defense and needed help getting rid of the body, Green said in March.

Demery, who made a deal with the state and testified against Green, is now eligible for parole. Green has admitted to helping Demery get rid of the body after the fact.

Green’s defense contends the state’s case that James Jordan was shot in his car isn’t supported by the evidence, noting that a state blood analyst couldn’t confirm a stain inside the car was blood and that the medical examiner never found a hole in James Jordan’s shirt to correspond with his fatal wound.

"For us to get the answers we need, we're going to need to put some people on the stand who were critical at the trial, including the prosecutor and including members of the Jordan family," Mumma said.

The next step in Green’s case will be a hearing in December, where the judge will decide whether or not he will move forward in hearing what Mumma says is new evidence in the case.

"The next step is basically oral arguments on the defendant's right to an evidentiary hearing. Based on the state's position, their position is that he doesn't have a right for an evidentiary hearing, that he should spend the rest of his life in prison without answering all the questions that are still out there," Mumma said.

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