Account
Daniel Green Seeking New Trial Again for Michael Jordan's Father's Murder
March 4, 2021
Daniel Andre Green, one of the men imprisoned for the murder of Michael Jordan's father, is seeking a new trial, according to the Fayetteville Observer's Paul Woolverton.
A fisherman discovered the body of James Jordan near McColl, South Carolina, in August 1993. Larry Martin Demery pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in 1995 and testified against Green as part of his guilty plea, implicating Green as the shooter.
Woolverton wrote Green admitted to aiding in the disposal of Jordan's body and stealing some of his property. However, he and his attorneys are arguing he wasn't involved in the murder itself.
"They say they can show that Green was at a party on the night that Jordan was killed, and that he had no involvement in the homicide until after Jordan was dead," per Woolverton. "They say Demery came to Green and asked him to help dispose of Jordan's body."
Green spoke to the Chicago Tribune's Dan Wiederer in August 2018 and provided a more in-depth retelling of his alleged actions on the night of the murder.
He said he was at a cookout with Demery and others on the night before the murder. Demery asked Green to join him for a "a drug-related trip to New York," but he declined. He said he saw Demery hours later and that Demery said he had shot a man following an altercation.
Wiederer wrote how phone calls from Jordan's car phone tied Green and Demery to the case but that "court records show there is no physical evidence incriminating Green as the triggerman."
Chris Mumma, one of Green's lawyers, said she also spoke to Demery in December 2018, and he recanted the testimony that helped convict Green.
"Mr. Demery stated that his testimony at Mr. Green's trial was not truthful," Mumma said in an affidavit, per Woolverton. "Mr. Demery stated that the State told him that they needed him to say he was close to the car and that he saw Mr. Green shoot the victim. Mr. Demery stated that he felt coached by law enforcement to lie at trial."
The murder of Jordan is set to be the subject of a docuseries produced by Amazon Studios, which is set to premiere sometime in 2021.