Who really killed Michael Jordan’s father? New documentary claims man jailed for 1993 murder may be innocent

Daniel Green’s representatives say evidence makes compelling case for fresh trial

A man jailed for nearly 30 years for the brutal murder of the father of basketball legend Michael Jordan could be innocent, a new true-crime documentary has claimed.

On July 23, 1993, James Jordan, 56, was shot in Lumberton, North Carolina, while sleeping in a Lexus car that was a gift from his world-famous son, who later described his father as his “rock”.

The crime appeared to have been a botched robbery.

Jordan’s body was found dumped in a swamp in South Carolina 11 days later and he was accidentally cremated on August 7 as an unidentified “John Doe”. His family, who reported him missing 21 days after his murder, had not been contacted.

Michael Jordan, the ex-NBA star, now 57, was pictured breaking down in the locker room in 1996 after leading the Chicago Bulls to another championship. He told a reporter: “I know he’s watching.” 

Michael Jordan with wife Juanita and his dad James while holding the NBA Championship Trophy in 1991 at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California (Getty Images)

At the time of the killing, Larry Demery, then 17, pleaded guilty to first degree murder and testified against friend and alleged accomplice Daniel Green, then 18, who was also convicted.

They were both sentenced to life in jail.

The court heard that the teenagers initially didn’t realise the identity of the victim, but later reportedly wore the NBA ring given to him by his son and used his car to pick up dates and make phone calls, which were later used to track them down.

Demery, now 44, was unexpectedly granted parole in August last year, due to a legal technicality that will allow him – but not Green – to be released in 2023.

But a new docuseries, Moment of Truth, airing on Amazon’s streaming service IMDb TV, has set out a case for the innocence of the still incarcerated Green, as reported by The Daily Beast.

Green, who had an alibi for the whole night of the murder after attending a party in his grandmother’s trailer, has repeatedly claimed over the years that he did not murder Jordan.

The now 45-year-old said he was at the party when Demery, who had reportedly left the event to meet a drug connection, reappeared and asked him to help dispose of the body – before Demery allegedly turned on him on the stand.

Green told Moment of Truth: “First of all, I know he lied and that’s reality. I know he lied on me and I know he killed James Jordan.”

He added: “Love and hate can’t exist in the same space at the same time. As a prisoner, I firmly believe that a person who is going to get out and not commit crimes should be freed.”

The series also lays out claims first made in 2016, of alleged police misconduct, including issues with the autopsy and reported failure to follow up leads on other suspects, like convicted drug trafficker Hubert Larry Deese – the son of Robeson County Sheriff Hubert Stone, who was a friend of the lead investigator, as reported by the Daily Mail. 

When police tracked down calls made from the phone in Jordan’s Lexus the night of the murder, the second call was allegedly to Deese. He worked with Demery at Crestline Mobile Home manufacturing plant, less than a mile from where the body was later discovered, and which was allegedly used as part of a drug-trafficking route known locally as “Cocaine Alley”.

Green’s defence team tried to introduce evidence of that call during his 1996 trial but it was rejected by the judge, The Daily Beast reported.

Deese was arrested for trafficking cocaine a year after the killing.

In 1997, a former police officer told federal agents that Deese had previously paid off law enforcement officials working on drugs investigations, according to The News and Observer in 2016. 

Deese’s lawyers deny the claims.

“In fact, throughout Deese’s employment at Crestline, he worked as a cabinet setter inside the plant and never had any contact with Larry Demery,” Deese’s lawyer Dale Godfrey said in a statement to The Robesonian. 

“At the time both men worked for Crestline, the company employed between 150 and 250 employees at the manufacturing plant.”

In 2002, an investigation into Robeson County Sheriff’s Office corruption led to the indictment of 22 officers including Glenn Maynor – who succeeded Deese’s father as sheriff.

Barack Obama awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Michael Jordan during a ceremony in the White House on 22 November, 2016 (Getty Images)

Deese said in a statement reported in The Robesonian in 2017: “I have rehabilitated my name and reputation since being released on drug trafficking charges in 1998. I have built a successful business, and members of my community are treating me like a murderer when that is simply not the case. I have worked hard to build my life back.”

Representatives for Green claim in the documentary that the evidence makes for a compelling case for a fresh trial.

But prosecutors in Jordan’s murder told The Chicago Tribune in 2018 that they don’t believe Green’s fight to be genuine and that “he’s never going to own up to what he did. He just won’t accept it.”

Green’s lead lawyer Christine Mumma, executive director of the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence, told The Daily Beast: “At a minimum, I think Daniel deserves an evidentiary hearing, which then would prove that he deserves a new trial. But in my mind, the evidence supports ... the charge of murder [to be] dismissed. He’s been in prison for 18 years longer than he should have been for the crimes he admits to and the crimes that I believe the evidence supports.”

She added: “I’m happy the true narrative is getting out there. There’s people out there who know what actually happened to James Jordan. I hope this story will give people the courage to come forward with the truth.”