The judge who presided over the murder trial of Michael Jordan’s father is calling for the convicted killer to be released.
Retired Judge Gregory Weeks has petitioned the North Carolina state parole board to call for the release of Daniel Andre Green, who was convicted in the 1996 murder trial.
Weeks says a forensic blood expert failed to disclose significant findings in the trial, which could have cast doubt on Green’s guilt. As Weeks told ABC, that expert witness never told the court that blood tests came back negative or inconclusive, which could have impacted the jury’s verdict in the case.
‘It speaks volumes about this case,’ Weeks told ABC.
James Jordan was gunned down at age 56 in 1993 while sleeping in his car along the side of a highway in his native North Carolina. Prosecutors claimed Green shot James Jordan in a botched robbery.
Michael Jordan celebrates winning an NBA Championship alongside his father James
Green has denied killing James, insisting he merely helped co-defendant Larry Demery dispose of the body in a South Carolina swamp after Demery killed the NBA legend’s father.
The 49-year-old Green is serving a life sentence at Southern Correctional Institution in North Carolina.
Green was previously denied a new trial in 2019.
An attorney for Green, Chris Mumma, filed a motion asking the judge to reconsider so new testimony from Green’s co-defendant can be heard.
An affidavit accompanying her motion stated that Demery told her in a December 2018 interview that “that he felt coached by law enforcement to testify falsely against Mr. Green.”
Mumma has said the case against Green was dependent on testimony by Demery, arguing he had an incentive to lie in hopes of avoiding the death penalty.
In this Aug. 20, 2010, file photo, Daniel Green, who is serving a life sentence for the July 1993 death of former NBA basketball star Michael Jordan’s father James Jordan, listens to questions
Mumma has also argued that Green’s constitutional rights to a fair trial were violated by ineffective counsel who failed to adequately explore ballistics evidence or to call testimony by several alibi witnesses.
Green has admitted that he helped dump James Jordan’s body but maintains he wasn’t present when Jordan was fatally shot in the chest. Green’s conviction for first-degree murder has previously been upheld by two state courts.
Demery is also currently serving a life sentence for the killing.
Prosecutors have maintained that Green killed James Jordan as part of a series of crimes that included other armed robberies. Prosecutors say James Jordan was killed as he slept in his parked Lexus along a highway after being targeted for robbery.
The violent death shocked fans of James Jordan’s world-famous son, Michael, who at that point had led the Chicago Bulls to the first three of his six NBA titles.