A Lumberton jury sentenced Daniel Green to life in prison, opting not to give him a death sentence.
Green was convicted of first-degree murder, first-degree armed robbery and conspiracy to committ armed robbery in the July 23, 1993 attack on the father of basketball starMichael Jordan.
The state's chief prosecution witness, Larry Martin Demery (R), testified that Green, 21, shot Jordan (below L) in the chest during a roadside holdup. He said the two then ditched the body in a swamp and went joyriding in Jordan's $40,000 Lexus coupe.
Green's attorneys called to the stand four family friends who testified that Green was watching television at the time prosecutors said Jordan was killed.
Jordan, 57, was napping in the red Lexus during an overnight drive from Wilmington to Charlotte. He had stopped along U.S. 74, near a motel where Green and Demery were searching for likely robbery victims. The expensive car, a gift to Jordan from his superstar son, caught their eye.
They sneaked up just as Jordan was awakening, Demery testified.
``He made a statement like, `What is this?' or `What's going on?' As soon as these words were out of his mouth, Daniel cut him off. By that I mean he shot him. Daniel just shot him,'' said Demery, who pleaded guilty last spring to the same charges facing Green.
``We both stood there and watched the man die,'' he told the Later, as they rifled through items in the car, Green said: ``I believe we've killed Michael Jordan's daddy,'' Demery testified.
Green later wore a watch and two NBA rings Michael Jordan had given his father, even making a rap videotape of himself flaunting the jewelry. The jury saw a portion of the videotape but without the sound.
Jordan's family, including his wife, Deloris, were conspicuously absent from the trial. Michael Jordan did not testify. His brother, Larry, was the only family member to attend the trial, and then only long enough to identify the jewelry.
District Attorney Johnson Britt blamed the killing on greed.
``The motivating factor behind this murder was the defendant's desire to have money, to have nice material objects, to have a nice car,'' he said in closing arguments.
Green and Demery drove around in the Lexus from July 23 to July 26, picking up dates and calling family and friends from the cellular phone, witnesses testified. The first call after Jordan's death was to a sex line, records showed.
Demery said he and Green took the body to a swamp near Bennettsville, S.C., and Green stole the dead man's shoes before the two of them pushed the body into the water.
``He said he liked them and this man wasn't going to need them anymore,'' Demery testified.
Green also took two suits from the Lexus, and wore the pants from one suit to court one day, Demery said. Defense lawyers promised to explain the pants but never did.
The body was found Aug. 5, the same day Jordan's car was discovered abandoned and stripped in woods near Fayetteville.
