LUMBERTON — Daniel Green, one of two men convicted of the murder of Michael Jordan’s father, has been denied an evidentiary hearing, which he hoped would be his path to freedom after more than two decades in prison.
Johnson Britt, the former Robeson County district attorney who prosecuted Green and Larry Demery for the murder of James Jordan, said he was contacted this week by the state Attorney General’s Office and was told that Superior Court Judge Winston Gilchrist had ruled to deny the evidentiary hearing. Green was hoping that the hearing would lead to a new trial and that he would be found innocent of murder, and released for time served.
Green has said that he was not involved in the murder of Jordan, who was killed in Robeson County in the summer of 1993, but that he joined Demery in the aftermath, and helped him dispose of the body. Green’s conviction for first-degree murder has been upheld by two state courts.
The Robesonian reached out to the Attorney General’s Office for details, but did not immediately get a return telephone call. Britt, who retired Jan. 1, was contacted.
“These rulings validate what I have maintained throughout this whole case and that is that Daniel Green and Larry Demery robbed and murdered James Jordan and that Daniel Green is guilty of the murder and robbery and that he received a fair trial and that his allegations are bogus,” said Britt, who prosecuted the two in early 1996, during his first term as county district attorney. “I hope these rulings bring finality to this case and some closure for the Jordan family and removes the negative stigma from this case and our county.”
In December, a defense attorney for Green, Chris Mumma, urged Gilchrist to allow the wider-ranging evidentiary hearing that could lead to a new trial. Mumma argued Green’s right to a fair trial was violated by ineffective counsel who failed to adequately explore ballistics evidence that cast doubt on Green’s role or to call testimony by several witnesses who say Green was at a house party when Jordan was killed. She also questioned testimony by a state agent who tested for blood on Jordan’s car seats, and she pointed to discrepancies in descriptions of a bullet hole in Jordan’s shirt.
“Daniel Green is innocent in the killing of James Jordan. He was not there,” she told Gilchrist.
Prosecutors from the state Attorney General’s Office countered that Green, now 45, changed his story during the investigation and that his trial attorneys did call several alibi witnesses. They disagreed with the ineffective counsel claim, noting that Green’s then-defense attorneys also consulted with a firearms expert. They said evidence supported Demery’s testimony and Green’s trial attorneys had ample chance to cross-examine him about his motives.
Prosecutor Danielle Elder told Gilchrist there was “overwhelming evidence” that Green killed Jordan as part of a series of crimes that included two other armed robberies, to which Green later pleaded no contest.
During the original trial, prosecutors used testimony from Demery to identify Green as the triggerman in the robbery of James Jordan early on the morning of July 23, 1993. Jordan’s body was found 11 days later in a South Carolina swamp and identified with dental records.
Green, who was 18 when Jordan was killed, has said he and Demery were both at a cookout when his friend left to meet someone for a drug deal. Green said he stayed at the party because he was flirting with a woman there. Demery returned hours later, Green said, appearing shaken and asking him to help dispose of Jordan’s body in the swamp. Green has said Demery told him he mistook James Jordan for a drug connection and shot him after an altercation.
Prosecutors have maintained that James Jordan was killed as he slept in his parked Lexus along a highway after being targeted for robbery.
Green has been imprisoned since March 12, 1996, when his and Demery’s trial ended. He is currently being held at the Lumberton Correctional Institute.
