A year has passed since the body of James Jordan Sr. was discovered. whose death influenced his son’s career to the point of retirement from the NBA. Flaws in the investigation, drugs, suspicious statements… The documentary Moment of Truth highlights the dark areas in the investigation.
On August 3, 1993, the lifeless body of James Jordan Sr., Michael Jordan’s father, was found.. On July 23, 1993, Jordan Sr. paraded. his car on the side of Routes 95 and 74 and he was surprised by two thieves: Larry Demery and Daniel Green, they killed him with a single bullet wound to the chest and arrested him. Demery admitted to taking part in the act and said Green fired the gun. But the case has more nuances than the simple confession of one of the defendants.
The documentary Hour of Truthof five stages, accomplished by IMDb TV, Amazon Studios and Bow and Arrow Entertainment, showing the dark side of the case; those who don’t want to investigate and still have doubts.
The day of his death, James Jordan Sr. he got tired of driving and decided to rest. At least that’s what the story says. But the place of killing was a few meters from the hotel Quality Inn, where I could have slept peacefully. Although the Jordans are a close-knit family, it seems unsurprising that James spent his 57th birthday alone (his birthday was August 1) and was never reported missing (they did so 21 day). They killed him on July 23 and on August 3 they found his body caught by some branches in a small river. He was cremated as a NN, but forensics kept his jaw and teeth and hands. That is stated in the death certificate He died from a .38 caliber gunshot to the right side of the chest.
After two days, on August 5, they found the car (a luxury Lexus) wrecked. and in the glove compartment are the papers proving the ownership of the vehicle. On August 13, it was confirmed that the cremated body was James Jordan Sr., Michael’s father.
They quickly arrested Larry Demery and Daniel Green with strong evidence about the use of the Lexus car for several days and the phone installed in the car, so they have a lot to explain. But the cause starts to get complicated and the pressure on the case starts to demand answers that don’t exist.
James Jordan Sr. was lost in Robenson County, North Carolina; the car arrived in Cumberland County, North Carolina; and the body in Marlboro County, South Carolina; so three county and two state police departments intervened.
The Caravan where Daniel Green and his mother lived (and where Demery frequented) was broken into twice. At first they found nothing significant. The second time they found a .38 caliber revolver hidden inside a vacuum cleaner and a VHS in which Green could be seen “rapping” a Chicago Bulls watch and an NBA All-Star ring (later it can be proven that they belong to the victim).
The documentary refers to two axes that run throughout the story. The underlying hierarchy in the town and the privileges of race: first the whites, then the original natives, and finally the Afro-descendants. And the corruption that reigned in the province Robertson and, above all, to the police department regarding drug trafficking. These topics should not be lost from the viewer’s consideration because the two defendants are, in turn, the subject of these prejudices. Larry Demery is Native American and Daniel Green is of African descent. and they were both prisoners before the crime of James Jordan Sr.
But what is highlighted in the research for the series is a few Great inconsistency from beliefs. At first it seemed like the stories told separately by the two defendants were similar. But Larry Demery would have entered into a plea deal with the prosecution in which he handled other past criminal acts and being an accomplice in the killing of James Jordan Sr., but confirmed that the shooter was his friend, Daniel Green. Among the criminal acts for which he claimed responsibility were robbing a liquor store with Green and stealing a .38 caliber revolver from the owner of the premises; the alleged weapon used to kill the father of Michael Jordan though Ballistics tests on it are never conclusive. That’s where the hard-to-explain story began.
According to Green, his whole story is based on helping Demery, because he considered him a close friend. But the truth, according to him, is that he was never at the scene of the crime and there are several witnesses, at least six, who confirm this. On the night of the crime, Demery left the Caravan where Green and his mother lived because Daniel was with a woman and another person. After some time, Demery returns and asks him to help him with “something”. Without saying a word, they went to where James Jordan’s car was. Green helped him dispose of the body, he admitted. But he says he doesn’t know what happened at the time of Jordan Sr.’s death. because he wasn’t there. What he can say here is that Demery would have told him that he had to meet a drug dealer in the vicinity of the Quality Inn hotel but that person did not go. There James Jordan appreciated it, they chatted for a while, they had an argument and Demery shot him in self defense.
Green has been legally represented by Chris Momma, executive director of the Center for the Fight for Innocence (NCCAI)., which specializes in reviewing sentences based on unfair or arbitrary process. First, he investigates the case and if he considers it meritorious, he starts a trial. Before defending Green, he said: “I think it’s an armed case, it was indicated that Daniel is to blame. The whole ordeal was rigged against him from the start.
Momma will base a request to reopen the case on five key points:
- The first call made from the car phone was to Hubert Harry Deese, drug dealer. He is the out-of-wedlock son of Hubert Stone, Sheriff of Robenson. He worked at Crestline Mobile Homes with Demery and they were under FBI investigation (son and father). But refrained from pursuing that line of inquiry. It was learned that 144 interrogations were conducted in the case, although 143 were received by the defense, the statement of the commissioner’s son was lost in the records.
- There was no blood in the car. They found a man dead in the driver’s seat with a bullet wound to the chest, they moved the body to the passenger seat and moved it 55 km to get rid of it but there was no trace of blood.
- An expert in ballistics, Momma took it, she did bullet trajectory tests in all possible positions and none of them matched the forensic report considering Demery’s statement that placed Green as the shooter from the open passenger window.
- Forensic experts examined the shirt James Jordan was wearing when he was killed with no bullet holes., and recorded in the report, before the body is cremated. But by the time the dress was presented as evidence before the judge, not only did the hole “appear”, but it also had traces of gunpowder even though it had been in a river for more than 15 days.
- And finally, They depose six witnesses that place Green in time and space outside the crime scene. There is more credence in the account of one of the two architects of the crime than the other witnesses.
Momma’s first evidentiary hearing request was denied on March 6, 2019, as Judge Gilchrist deemed Green’s defense presentation insufficient. But they have another way (they didn’t get it in the first presentation) to request a second hearing. Mommy asked permission Demery to interview him in prison at the end of 2018 and admit to him that he lied in his statement to the jury and that what he said was given to him by the police. And that, if called to testify, I would say he lied under oath. That second request was promptly answered and also denied.
The prosecutor in the case, Johnson Britt, maintained from the beginning that Daniel Green was the murderer and did everything possible not to deviate from the investigation and lead to his conviction, ignoring all who might question the process or procedures. He added that it is possible to request the death penalty once the process begins.
Britt himself performed a operation called Stained Plaque and filed criminal charges against the police station. This led to the arrest of more than twenty police officers and Robenson Sheriff Glenn Maynor. They were found to be stealing money from traffic tickets, wasting federal funds, lying to juries, paying off informants with drugs, money laundering, and kidnapping. As a result, more than 300 previous cases for false testimony and improper handling of evidence were overturned.
A Hubert Harry Deesethe sheriff’s son, who was warned by the FBI that he was under investigation for drugs and called from James Jordan Sr.’s car. and intentionally shielded from the investigation, was sentenced to four years in prison for trafficking.
Larry Demery and Daniel Green were sentenced to life in prison.
On October 29, 1993, a reporter asked Michael Jordan: “Do you want to ask (murderers) ‘why’?” And his answer was: “No, because it would hurt me even more to know his reasons, because it would be a useless reason… It’s better that he doesn’t know.”
Images: Getty Images
Source: Tycsports
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
