Judge rejects convicted killer's claims, blocks new hearing in death of Michael Jordan's father
A Superior Court judge has blocked efforts of the man convicted of killing Michael Jordan’s father to get his case back in front of the court.
Judge Winston Gilchrist emailed the attorneys in the case about his decision in March, but he finally handed down his 83-page order on the matter Tuesday.
Daniel Green was convicted in 1996 under the felony murder rule of killing James Jordan. His co-defendant, Larry Demery, pleading guilty to murder and testified against Green as part of a plea deal. Both men are serving life sentences, but under the plea agreement, Demery is now eligible for parole.
James Jordan disappeared on his way from a funeral in Wilmington to his home near Charlotte in July 1993, but his family did not immediately report him missing. A body was found in a swamp in South Carolina 11 days later, but it wasn’t identified as James Jordan until his Lexus was found abandoned and vandalized in the woods in Fayetteville almost two weeks later.
Because there was no identification, the body was cremated, but the coroner had saved the jaw and hands of the deceased and was able to make a positive identification after seeing news reports about James Jordan’s disappearance and connecting with investigators.
At the time, Michael Jordan was at the top of his game, having just won another NBA championship with the Chicago Bulls. His close relationship with his father was well-documented, and many people believe the tragedy forced him into early retirement.
Because of Jordan’s status as an icon, people everywhere mourned for the basketball star and his family. The high-profile case became a media circus and garnered attention around the globe.
Since his arrest in 1993, Green has maintained his innocence in the killing. He has been filing motions for the past 20 years trying to get the case reviewed by the court. He claims that Demery asked him to help dispose of James Jordan’s body but that he was not there when Jordan was killed.
The state presented evidence at trial that James Jordan was killed in his red Lexus as he napped along the side of an access road off U.S. Highway 74 in Lumberton near Interstate 95. Prosecutors say the motive was robbery. Green admits to helping Demery dump the body off the Pea Bridge into Gum Swamp just over the state line in McColl, S.C. The two men, who were 18 at the time, later rode around in the Lexus for several days, making calls from the car phone.
Demery’s testimony was the main piece of evidence that convicted Green. Green’s attorney, Chris Mumma, executive director of the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence, says there is basically no physical evidence connecting her client to the crime.
In her motions for an evidentiary hearing, Mumma cited problems with the blood evidence. A spot found in James Jordan’s car initially tested positive for blood, but later, a more reliable test was inconclusive. She says this was not clearly stated at trial, and that, in fact, the forensic examiner for the State Crime Lab at the time testified that, in her opinion, it was blood.
Mumma also points to the fact that the medical examiner who performed the post-mortem investigation did not find a hole in James Jordan’s shirt where the bullet pierced his chest, but later, at trial, the shirt did have a hole in that location.
Mumma also contends that Demery’s relationship with a known drug dealer at the time, Hubert Larry Deese, who was the biological son of then-Robeson County Sheriff Hubert Stone, should have been revealed during the trial. Mumma said she believes there were many errors at trial, including the fact that the defense failed to present multiple alibi witnesses who saw Green at a party at the time James Jordan was killed.
None of these arguments convinced Gilchrist that Green deserves a new trial.
“Defendant has failed to establish newly discovered evidence exists which entitles him to a new trial,” Gilchrist wrote in his order.
Perhaps Mumma’s biggest and most important contention is that Demery told many people in prison, including her, a journalist and at least six other inmates, that he lied on the witness stand about Green’s involvement and that he did not see him kill James Jordan.
“Defendant has failed to show that the co-Defendant Demery's testimony is false and that there is a reasonable possibility that, had the false testimony not been admitted, a different result would have been reached at trial," Gilchrist wrote in his order. "In addition to failing to show that the hearsay statements attributed to co-defendant Demery are probably true, defendant also fails to show that they would be admissible evidence. He has failed to show they are competent, material, and relevant. Co-defendant Larry Demery's statements constitute hearsay evidence which would not be admissible before this Court if presented at an evidentiary hearing."
Mumma said Wednesday that she still believes there is "beyond sufficient evidence of both factual and legal issues that require an evidentiary hearing" and that Green and the public "have a right to have the evidence heard." She plans to appeal the ruling.
"Mr. Green's case has been a travesty of justice, often driven by factors beyond the law, since the time of his conviction through the 20 years it took for his post-conviction claims to be denied without a hearing," she said.
Green told WRAL News by phone that the ruling was expected.
"I’m not surprised, because I’m innocent of the crime, yet I was convicted," he said. "I’ve been fighting for 26 years trying to access to the courts. The people of North Carolina should be afraid of any institution that relies on fear and bribery to muzzle those charged with protecting basic due process. This does not serve the interests of the Jordan family. They’re being manipulated.
"I do apologize for my role in helping create this situation," he added.
