New WRAL series focuses on murder of Michael Jordan’s father and troubling legal issues
A locally produced documentary series debuting this week presents a detailed account of the murder of James Jordan, father of UNC and NBA basketball star Michael Jordan, and a close look at the problematic investigation that sent two Lumberton men to prison.
Jordan was killed in Lumberton on July 23, 1993, after pulling over on the side of Interstate 95 for a nap during a trip from Wilmington to Charlotte. His badly decomposed body was discovered in a South Carolina swamp 11 days later and cremated as a John Doe.
Larry Demery and Daniel Green, 18 and 19 years old at the time, were arrested and charged with Jordan’s murder. Demery testified that Green pulled the triggered, and Demery got a reduced sentence. Green has always maintained that he helped Demery dispose of Jordan’s body, but that he wasn’t present when Jordan was killed. Demery was granted parole last year (to be released in 2023), but Green is serving a life sentence.
“Moment of Truth,” produced by WRAL/Capitol Broadcasting Co. and distributed by IMDb TV, isn’t your typical true-crime recap of another gruesome murder. The series goes much deeper to provide important context for the area where Jordan’s murder happened and where justice for Jordan’s death was delivered. It examines racial tensions in Robeson County among white people, Black people and Lumbee Indians, as well as the county’s long history of poverty and police corruption.
The series uses crime scene and autopsy photos, archival news footage and a few reenactments, along with new interviews with reporters, investigators, academics and attorneys, to present the story surrounding Jordan’s murder, the details of which are still shrouded in mystery.
But the documentary is as much about the questions surrounding the trial — Green’s conviction in particular — as it is about Jordan, touching only briefly on conspiracy theories about Jordan’s death, and instead focusing on the primary point of the trial: Larry Demery’s version of events vs. Daniel Green’s story of his own involvement.
Christine Mumma, executive director of North Carolina’s Center on Actual Innocence, appears in the documentary to walk viewers through the problems with the state’s case against Green, who speaks in the documentary through interviews with WRAL reporters. Mumma represents Green in his efforts for a new hearing and a chance to prove his innocence.
For balance, Johnson Britt, a former Robeson County District Attorney who prosecuted the case in 1996 — and who is listed as a commissioner on North Carolina’s Innocence Inquiry Commission — gets equal time throughout the series to give his perspective on the trial and his confidence in Green’s guilt.
The polished five-episode series isn’t able to offer any definitive answers to questions of why and how Jordan was murdered, but it raises important questions about whether or not justice for his death was actually served.
How to watch ‘Moment of Truth’
All five parts of the series, which is produced by WRAL/Capitol Broadcasting Co. and Bow & Arrow Entertainment, will be released on IMDb TV on Friday, April 2.
▪ You can watch on the IMDb TV app, which is free with ads, on a mobile device (smartphone or tablet) or on a streaming device such as Amazon Fire Stick or Roku. You can also watch from the IMDb TV website on your computer: imdb.com/tv.
▪ You can also watch IMDb TV through Amazon Prime. If you have an Amazon Prime account, open the Amazon Prime Video app and go to “Channels” and select IMDb TV.
More on the murder of James Jordan
▪ The Chicago Tribune published “Absence of Answers: The James Jordan Murder,” an in-depth look at Jordan’s murder, in 2018, including the questions raised about how the case and trial were handled. Read at: graphics.chicagotribune.com/james-jordan-murder.
▪ The first season of the podcast “The Score: Behind the Headlines” focused on the murder of James Jordan.
This story was originally published March 31, 2021 at 7:30 AM.
