Accused of UM football star Bryan Pata’s murder, teammate offered a plea deal
Shackled and standing before a judge Monday afternoon, Rashaun Jones — accused in the 2006 murder of his University of Miami teammate Bryan Pata — professed his innocence and said he wasn’t inclined to accept a plea deal offered by prosecutors.
“Deep down in my heart, I know I’m innocent,” Jones, 40, told Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Cristina Miranda.
If Jones enters into the plea agreement, he would be sentenced to 15 years in state prison. Jones has already served five years behind bars awaiting trial and would likely get credit for the time he has already served.
The revelation came during a Monday afternoon hearing where prosecutors and Jones’ legal team were addressing pending motions. The trial is set to begin with jury selection next week.
READ MORE: Former player arrested, charged with 2006 murder of Miami Hurricanes star Bryan Pata
Pata, a 22-year-old Hurricanes star defensive lineman expected to be a top NFL draft pick, was shot in the back of the head and killed on Nov. 7, 2006, outside his home at the Colony Apartments in Kendall, near Dadeland. Pata had just returned from football practice.
Jones, who has pleaded not guilty, was arrested on a second-degree murder charge in 2021, 15 years after Pata’s death.
The case against Jones is mainly circumstantial. Cellphone records place him in the area of the killing, prosecutors say, and an eyewitness identified Jones as the man fleeing the shooting.
Also on Monday, Miranda barred Jones’ attorneys from presenting evidence related to other people confessing to the murder, allegedly placing a hit on Pata and threatening Pata before his killing. The defense will also not be allowed to elicit testimony about a fight at a club involving Pata, several of his UM teammates and gang members months before the murder.
In October, Miranda found that Paul Conner, the key witness who identified Jones as the man fleeing after the “pop” of the gunshot, was mentally unfit to testify in person at trial.
READ MORE: Key witness in UM football player’s murder is mentally unfit to testify, judge rules
Conner, 81 and a former UM professor, also picked Jones out of two police photo lineups on two different occasions, once after the killing and again in 2022.
READ MORE: ‘Dead’ witness in UM football star murder case found alive. Will that impact case?
Detectives believed Conner was dead. But ESPN tracked him down in late August at his last known address in Louisville, according to an ESPN report. Prosecutors successfully sought to admit Conner’s testimony, which was recorded in 2022 due to his age, health issues and the COVID-19 pandemic. The judge ruled to allow prosecutors to play Conner’s recorded testimony at Jones’ trial.
While addressing Jones during the hearing, Miranda said she wasn’t trying to sway Jones into taking a plea deal, but said the case could be resolved without “rolling the dice” at a trial.
“That means life, that means you don’t get out,” Miranda said, warning Jones of the stakes if he is found guilty at trial. “That means you get out in a pine box. ... The reality is that the only person who is going to feel the consequences is you.”
