Jurors listen to opening statements in the trial of Miami Hurricanes star’s murder suspect
Bryan Pata, a defensive lineman for the Miami Hurricanes who graduated from Miami Central High School, was killed after practice on Nov. 7, 2006. He was a 22-year-old NFL prospect.
Nearly two decades later, Assistant State Attorney Kristen Rodriguez told jurors on Wednesday that Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office detectives identified Pata’s then teammate, Rashaun Jones, as the killer.
“Each person will provide a piece of evidence that in the end points only to one person,” Rodriguez said before pointing to Jones, 40, who was in the courtroom.
The U.S. Marshals fugitive task force and M-DSO deputies arrested Jones on Aug. 19, 2021, in Ocala, a few days after a judge issued an arrest warrant for second-degree murder.
“Jones’s actions paved the path through his behaviors, his timings, his communications, his actions, and it is the context of those combined circumstances that will allow you members of the jury, at the conclusion of the state’s case, to find the defendant guilty,” Rodriguez said during her opening statement.
Sara Alvarez, the defense attorney representing Jones, who is standing trial, said M-DSO detectives were wrong for accusing Jones of shooting Pata in the head in a parking lot in Kendall.
“We are here today because of pressure, not because of proof, and the simple truth is that Rashaun Jones is innocent,” Alvarez said during her opening statement. “Now, the state just got up here and told you that they were going to prove this to you … beyond all reasonable doubt … but they won’t because they can’t.”
During pre-trial hearings, Canes teammates who knew both players testified Jones and Pata had been involved in fights, and Jones had threatened to shoot Pata. The warrant for Jones’s arrest cited “ongoing issues” between the teammates before the fatal shooting.
Although Jones could get up to life in prison if convicted, he rejected plea deal offers, maintaining that he is innocent.
“Deep down in my heart, I know I am innocent. If that means I have to go to trial to prove my innocence, I would be willing to go there. Dismissal would be the only thing I am willing to accept,” Jones told Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Cristina Miranda during a pre-trial hearing on Feb. 2.
Related story: Defense for ex-UM football player drops bombshell in trial for murder of teammate Bryan Pata
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