Man who killed Michael Jordan's father while he was sleeping in his car is up for parole
One of the two men who received life sentences for the 1993 murder of Michael Jordan's father is up for a parole hearing. According to a report by WECT, 44-year-old Larry Demery is being considered for parole by the North Carolina Post-Release Supervision and Parole Commission. Demery was 17 at the time of the incident and pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, armed robbery, and conspiracy to commit robbery.
James Jordan Sr. was sleeping in his car at a highway rest stop in Robeson County, North Carolina when he was shot and killed. Eleven days after the July 1993 incident, the 56-year-old's body was found dumped off a bridge in South Carolina.
Daniel Andre Green, Demery's accomplice, also received life in prison for the murder. According to WECT, both have accused the other of pulling the trigger on the NBA legend's father. While state law does not allow parole for crimes committed after October 1, 1994, Demery qualified for it as the crime took place before that cutoff.
“I think about him every day," Michael said of his father in 1996, per the Chicago Tribune. "I’m pretty sure I always will. Every day of my life."
Michael, who was 30 at the time of his father's death, opened up to Oprah Winfrey about grieving the loss and trying to understand the motive behind it. “I’m a very optimistic person in the sense that I don’t look at the real bad part of it. I looked at it that no matter what happened to my father, he’s not here,” the athlete told Winfrey in 1993, per The Tribune.
And when asked whether he would want to question Demery and Green why they killed his father, Michael said he had no interest. “No, because I don’t want to know,” he said. “Because it probably would hurt me even more just to know their reasons. Because if it is, it’s going to be totally meaningless for the reasons. It’s better that I don’t know.”
Demery is currently being held at Scotland Correctional Institution in North Carolina.