Judge Moves to Free Man Convicted of Killing Michael Jordan's Dad

The man convicted in the murder of Michael Jordan 's father three decades ago could be released from prison after the judge who presided over the case made a surprising move.

On Oct. 15, North Carolina judge Gregory Weeks petitioned the state's parole commission asking for the release of Daniel Green, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole following the 1996 trial for the murder of James Jordan. Green was 18 at the time of the murder in 1993 and was convicted of killing Jordan in a robbery gone wrong.

According to Weeks, a forensic blood analyst working on the case against Green failed to disclose that a blood-like substance found in the car where Jordan was killed might not have actually been his blood. Weeks described in his affidavit to the commission prosecutors' claim that Jordan was sleeping in the passenger seat of his car on the side of the road when Green walked up and shot him. This narrative was in line with the testimony of Larry Demery, Green's co-defendant who accused Green of firing the gun.

However, the blood analyst never disclosed that other forensic tests from inside the vehicle came back negative or inconclusive for blood. These test results could've been evidence that might have changed the outcome of the trial, and in his note, Weeks said the omission of these results hasn't left his mind in the years since the trial, per ABC News .

When Green learned about what the judge said on his behalf, he was over the moon with the news. "[The fact that the judge who] presided over my trial asked that I be paroled is significant," Green told ABC News from North Carolina's Southern Correctional Institution . "It speaks volumes about this case, and I’m overwhelmingly grateful."

Green was previously denied parole back in 2021. A spokesperson for the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction said the commission will likely spend at least one month deliberating on whether or not to grant Green parole now. In the meantime, both Green and Weeks await the decision with bated breath.