It has been well over 25 years since Michael Jordan experienced a heartbreaking loss in his personal life that would eventually have major ramifications across the NBA landscape and North American professional sports as a whole.
On July 23, 1993, Jordan's father, James, was murdered by two teenagers attempting to carjack Michael's luxury sedan in Lumberton, North Carolina (Jordan's home state). Later that year, Michael would announce his first retirement from the NBA, citing that he was planning to retire from basketball pretty soon to fulfill his father's wish of pursuing a career in baseball.
The two assailants named Daniel Green and Larry Demery were almost immediately caught after the discovery of Jordan's father's body on August 3, and the two are currently serving life in prison. However, according to the latest report by Jonathan Drew of the Associated Press, one of the convicted murderers, Green, has requested for a hearing for a re-trial to prove his innocence.
Chris Mumma, Green's attorney, recently filed a motion for reconsideration stating that a new testimony coming from Green's co-defendant, Demery, would shed new light on their case.
The testimony claimed that Demery was “coached by law enforcement to testify falsely against Mr. Green” and that Green's case was dependent on Demery's testimony. Mumma argued that the latter was forced to lie about the former's involvement in the murder in hopes of avoiding death row.
As it turns out,though, Judge Winston Gilchrist denied the request for the hearing on Wednesday, which leaves Green and Demery where they still stand and that papers will be filed soon to proper document the request for a re-trial.
Prior to the murder of James Jordan Sr., Green and Demery have had an extensive history of breaking the law — with multiple accounts of armed robberies. MJ's father passed away at the age of 56.
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