Ex-Miami football player Rashaun Jones charged in 2006 murder of teammate Bryan Pata (22)

[up2trouble]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Pata

https://nypost.com/2021/08/19/rashau...of-bryan-pata/

Former University of Miami football player Rashaun Jones has been arrested on a first-degree charge murder in connection with the death of his teammate Bryan Pata in 2006, according to the Miami Herald.

The 15-year cold case drew renewed attention last year when ESPN wrote a story naming Jones, 35, as a 'suspect' listed in police records for the first time. Pata was a 22-year-old defensive lineman on a path to the NFL when he was shot in the back of the head and killed outside an apartment complex.

Pata's girlfriend formerly dated Jones, and Pata had beaten up Jones at least twice when romantic relationships caused tension, the report said. That prompted Jones to warn Pata that he better get a gun in self-defense, according to ESPN.

On the same day Pata was murdered, Jones was suspended from the football team for his third failed marijuana test. He also skipped the meeting called by coaches after word of Pata's death began to spread, according to ESPN. Jones allegedly asked a friend for money to leave town that night and changed his phone number.

No eyewitnesses to the shooting ever came forward.

Jones was arrested in Lake City, Fla. as part of a joint operation between Miami-Dade County police and the U.S. Marshals office, according to NBC6 in Miami.

Pata's family long believed jealousy was the motive for the murder.

'He wanted to make it to the NFL and make my mother proud and he wanted to help his family,' brother Edrick Pata told NBC 6 in 2017. 'I believe it was more so the jealousy, a lot of jealousy. The way Bryan carried himself, he was very bold, he was confident in what he did, he was confident he was going to graduate college, he was confident he was going to get drafted to the NFL.'

[up2trouble]

Other Info -

https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/st...yer-bryan-pata - details about Bryan and his murder

https://www.facebook.com/people/Brya...0001138505176/

[curiouscat]

I don't understand celebrities, athletes, and well known figures.
They think they can get away with stuff, because they're put on a pedestal.
If I had the money they had, I'd be traveling, not trying to molest children or kill people like they do.

[raisedbywolves]

https://www.local10.com/news/local/2...-murder-trial/

Closing arguments came in on Wednesday, on day five of the trial of ex-University of Miami football player Rashaun Jones.

That case will soon be in the hands of the jury after jurors heard testimony today about Jones’s cell phone records and what the medical examiner found inside the body of teammate Bryan Pata.

The 40-year-old Jones declined to testify and his defense team did not call any witnesses before resting its case.

Jones, who is facing a second-degree murder charge, could spend up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

[Bewitchingstorm]

I have never heard of this one. I wonder what the article means by "found inside the body of teammate Bryan Pata"?

[raisedbywolves]

https://www.espn.com/college-footbal...ll-murder-case

A judge declared a mistrial Monday in the murder trial of former Miami Hurricanes player Rashaun Jones, accused of the shooting of teammate Bryan Pata in 2006.

About an hour after the six jurors began their second day of deliberations, Florida 11th Circuit Judge Cristina Miranda came into the courtroom to address the attorneys, reading a statement from the jurors: "At this point we are deadlocked with no one willing to move." Miranda instructed them to keep trying, but after about another hour, they again said they could not render a verdict.

Afterward, one jury member who asked to remain anonymous told ESPN that only one of the six jurors wanted to convict Jones.

"The state case was very weak, mostly circumstantial, and they did not meet the burden beyond reasonable doubt," the juror said.

Nearly all evidence against Jones, 40, was circumstantial amid a flurry of police missteps that came to light over the years, and Jones was not charged in the case until nearly 15 years after the killing. He had maintained his innocence and declined plea offers just before trial that would have limited his prison time instead of risking up to life in prison.

Prosecutors relied heavily on recorded testimony from former University of Miami instructor Paul Conner, who told police he encountered someone walking away from the apartment complex where Pata was killed shortly after the shooting.

Six jurors, after the three alternates were dismissed, deliberated for about six hours Thursday and about two hours Monday, after asking to review certain pieces of evidence, including Conner's testimony and even the bullet retrieved from Pata's body.

BWS, in answer to your question above I think they are talking about the bullet.

[Bewitchingstorm]

https://www.espn.com/college-footbal...ll-murder-case

BWS, in answer to your question above I think they are talking about the bullet.

I guess so. Very odd.

[marshmallow]

I have never heard of this one. I wonder what the article means by "found inside the body of teammate Bryan Pata"?

https://www.espn.com/college-footbal...ll-murder-case





BWS, in answer to your question above I think they are talking about the bullet.

I think so too but an odd way to say it.