- One of the men convicted of murdering Michael Jordan’s father has been given parole and will be released from prison in 2023.
- In 1996, Larry Demery and Daniel Green were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of James Jordan, who was shot dead in his car on a highway in North Carolina in 1993.
- Demery, 44, has now been granted a parole date of August 6, 2023, according to CBS News.
- Michael Jordan described his father as his “rock” and said they were “very close” during the popular docuseries about his career, The Last Dance.
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One of the men convicted of murder over the death Michael Jordan’s father has been given parole and will be released from prison in 2023.
In 1996, Larry Demery and Daniel Green were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of James Jordan, who was shot dead in his car on a highway in North Carolina on July 23, 1993.
Demery, 44, has now been granted a parole date of August 6, 2023 according to North Carolina’s Post-Release Supervision and Parole Commission, as per CBS News.
Criminals in North Carolina are no longer entitled for parole if their crimes were committed on or after October 1 1994.
However, because Demery's crime occurred before that date, he remains eligible.
James Jordan was napping in a car that his son had gifted him on the night of his murder.
According to CNN, Demery said he and Green had been preparing to rob a motel when the car caught their eye and they decided to rob it. Jordan awoke during the robbery and was shot.
After Jordan's body was found 11 days later in a South Carolina swamp, Demery testified he had helped move the 56-year-old's body after he witnessed Green shoot him. Green has maintained his innocence to this day, saying that it was Demery who pulled the trigger.
Demery and Green were both 18 at the time of the murder, and were sentenced to life plus 40 years and life plus 10 years respectively after pleading guilty to first-degree murder.
Michael Jordan recently described his father as his "rock" during the popular 10-part documentary about his career and life "The Last Dance."
"He was my rock. You know, we were very close. He constantly gave me advice," Jordan said, adding: "One of the things that he always taught me is that you have to take a negative and turn it into a positive. So I started looking to the other side of it, and that helped me get through it."
Read more:
31 things we learned about Michael Jordan and the 1998 Chicago Bulls in "The Last Dance"