TROY, N.C. (WBTW) — One of two men serving a life sentence for the 1993 deadly Lumberton shooting of James Jordan — the father of NBA legend Michael Jordan — says he should be released “immediately” and maintains he was not the one who pulled the trigger.

In an exclusive, hourlong interview with News13’s Annette Peagler at the Southern Correctional Institution in Troy, North Carolina, Daniel Green addressed how he’s spent the last 32 years since his arrest, why he implicated himself in the killing, his friendship with Larry Demery — who is also serving a life sentence for the killing — and much more.

The full, unedited version of the interview is in the video player at the top of this story.

32 years since being arrested, how is he managing?

Green, 50, who was arrested at 18, said he manages “the best” he can and spends most of his free time researching his case.

“I’m managing the best a person could [under] these circumstances,” he said. “Of course, prison is not a place that anyone should want to be, especially somebody that’s innocent of the charges. I am innocent of these charges that I was convicted of. I was convicted of three different charges.”

Green was found guilty of murder, conspiracy to commit robbery, and robbery.

“I spend most of my time working on my case or researching my case,” he said. “Pretty much everything that I do in any of the classes that I’ve taken has always been about trying to help learn and understand our justice system, the way that our government works, and, you know, trying to become a better person each and every day.”

His childhood friendship with Demery

Green said he met Demery when they were in third grade together and their teacher “forced” them to be study partners.

“We met, we were actually fighting over something, and our teacher forced us to be study partners and reading partners,” Green said. “That’s when we developed our friendship.”

Green described Demery as someone who was “extremely quiet.”

“[He was] extremely quiet, kind of to his self,” Green said. “I didn’t realize it at the time, but since then, some of our classmates have spoken about that they felt that he was kind of, you know, weird, since he was just so quiet.”

Their friendship was a good balance, according to Green, because on the other hand, he was talkative.

“Me? I’m ADD, ADHD, you know, So I’m very talkative, so it was just a balance,” Green said.

What happened the night of July 23, 1993?

James Jordan, who was wearing one of his son’s championship rings at the time of his death, was shot and killed in his car off the side of Interstate 95 in Lumberton. He was 57.

James was attending a funeral and driving back to Charlotte from Wilmington on July 23, 1993. He made a stop and parked his car off I-95 when he was killed and robbed.

Green was asked about his first thoughts when Demery showed up at Green’s godmother’s house the night of July 23, with a red Lexus and a body inside it.

Green acknowledged that he couldn’t go into too many details because of a court-imposed gag order but said he and Demery were supposed to have left together that night.

“Larry and I were supposed to be leaving together around 9:30, 10:30, 11 p.m.,” he said. “There was a girl there that I was attracted to, and we were kissing. And so when it was time to go, it was like an hour had passed before I knew it. He was like, ‘OK man, we gotta go, we gotta go.’ And I didn’t really want to go, because I knew he wanted to go to New York, he wanted to pick up a car that he said had some drugs in it.”

When Demery came back early in the morning, he told Green something had happened.

“When he came back, it was about 4:30 in the morning,” Green said. “He told me something had happened and to come outside with him. I went outside with him, we smoked a cigarette, probably took about four, five minutes while we shared it, and then we left. At the time that we left, I didn’t know what had happened. I didn’t know what he was saying happened, but later on, he had told me that he had killed somebody. So I decided to go with him.”

Green said he didn’t leave, despite his conscious telling him he should.

“I had an opportunity to leave, like my conscious told me to leave,” he said. “At that age, I didn’t recognize what it was. I thought it was fear, and I’m the type of person that if I’m afraid of something, I push through it, and that’s what happened.”

Why did he help dispose of James Jordan’s body?

Despite Green’s denial that he pulled the trigger and killed James Jordan, he has been on record admitting to helping dispose of his body.

But why implicate yourself in the killing? Did he know who the body was?

“I didn’t know. I think it’s a possibility that [Larry] knew because there’s been talk about championship rings, but I’ve never seen a championship ring,” Green said. “But, according to some witnesses, Larry Demery did sell the ring. But why did I do it? I mean, I was a kid.”

Green added that he “wasn’t thinking” about the consequences of helping Demery dispose of the body.

“As a 50-year-old man, which is what I am right now, to ask me, why did I do something like that now? I would not be able to give you a rational reason,” he said. “Really, you know, I was just not thinking about the consequences, I was in the moment. But then it has to be noted that I had done 2 1/2 years in prison, wrongfully. And that’s not me saying [that], that was the judge who vacated the conviction, overturned the conviction, and the district attorney, Johnson Britt. I should’ve never been at prison at 16 years old.”

James’ badly decomposed body was spotted on Aug. 3 by a fisherman in the area of Gum Swamp in Marlboro County. Authorities were able to identify him through dental records and fingerprints.

His reaction to Demery taking plea deal

After being friends with Demery since the third grade, Green was asked about his initial reaction when his longtime friend Demery took a plea deal, testifying that Green was the one who shot and killed James Jordan.

“I didn’t believe it,” Green said. “I didn’t believe it. I saw Larry coming down the hall one day, and I just asked him, and he dropped his head and he just kept walking.”

Judge argues for Green to be released on parole, ‘disavowing’ rumors surrounding Jordan’s death, and more

Retired judge Gregory Weeks, who presided over the 1996 murder trial, petitioned the North Carolina Parole Commission in October 2024 to release Green.

“That’s never happened in North Carolina,” Green said. “I don’t know how many times it’s happened in the country. It has never happened in North Carolina, where a judge who was over a trial has went to a parole hearing and said ‘Free this man.’ That has never happened.”

And in 2019, Green pushed for a motion for appropriate relief, something attorney Christine Mumma told him was a done deal.

“Christine told me as if it was a done deal,” Green said. “Christine eventually told me, she said, ‘Listen, you’re going to get the evidentiary hearing and there’s an extreme possibility that you’ll be released before the evidentiary hearing.'”

But judge Winston Gilchrist denied Green’s request for an evidentiary hearing.

“My family was extremely excited. My mother was sick for years, my mother had a brain aneurysm in 1999 and a stroke, and had been struggling with her health ever since then. She was cooking, getting my favorite things to eat ready,” he said. “We were turned down. She did say afterwards she was distraught, and she did say it would be reversed on appeal. And it was — appellate courts did send it back down and asked judge Gilchrist to reconsider — but he did the same thing again.”

After James Jordan’s death, rumors and conspiracy theories surfaced that it might have been connected with Michael Jordan’s gambling debt. Those theories are something Green disavows.

“I’ve always disavowed that because I don’t think that Larry gambled,” he said. “I’ve never seen him gamble, and I’ve never seen him round people to gamble. At the end of the day, I don’t think that happened. I don’t think that has anything to do with it. I think Larry was probably high when he went out there; he was probably scared, and he misidentified the car.”

Green continued, saying that in his opinion, the only reason those rumors started floating after James Jordan’s death was to “taint” Michael Jordan’s legacy.

“The reason for doing that, for making those allegations toward Michael Jordan, was to try to put the threat of a taint on his name, his legacy, so that they could then say, ‘OK, well, we want you to support this, or we’re gonna have your lawyers here,'” Green said. “You gotta understand, he’s not making decisions, he has lawyers. He has really great lawyers, so they’re supposed to protect him. They’re gonna do whatever it takes, whatever is necessary to protect him. He’s not gonna know anything. So I just think that’s been a long time that something’s been happening, I’ve always spoken against it.”

Green also said there’s a “presumption of criminality” with people who look like him.

“There’s a presumption of criminality, especially when it comes to people who look a certain way in society, people who talk a certain way, you don’t use the proper grammar, you dress different. That’s hard to overcome,” he said. “It’s extremely difficult. It’s put into us at a very young age, and anybody who would say that, I would say if you’re willing to listen to the evidence, we can discuss it.”

More than three decades later, Green thinks his case was used as leverage to get the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 — introduced under former President Bill Clinton — passed.

Critics argued that the bill fueled mass incarceration, disproportionately affected minorities, and encouraged harsher punishments.

“They weaponized the case — specifically, Congress, Sen. Dorgans, Sen. Curran — specifically spoke about it and said it was a high-profile case, it was Michael Jordan’s father, that they could use it and push this bill through,” Green said.

Green says he’s ‘not responsible’ for James Jordan’s death

One of the last things Green did during his sit-down with Peagler was address James and Michael Jordan’s families, reiterating that he’s not the person responsible for James’ death.

“To Michael Jordan, to his family, I’m not responsible for James Jordan’s death,” he said. “I’m not responsible for his death.”