UM football star murder trial pushed back amid allegations against detective
The trial date of the teammate accused of gunning down UM football star Bryan Pata was pushed back during a tense hearing Thursday morning.
Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Cristina Miranda rescheduled Rashaun Jones’ trial for Sept. 14 after granting a delay that she attributed to both prosecutors and defense attorneys. The judge will hear several defense motions on May 18, the day originally set for the trial.
Among the filings is a request to dismiss the case — citing how the lead detective, Juan Segovia, is being investigated by internal affairs over social-media posts made during Jones’ trial in March. (The case ended in a mistrial after a six-person jury said it was deadlocked.)
READ MORE: Detective posted about UM football star’s murder case during trial, defense says
Jones, now 40, is accused in the killing of Pata, a 22-year-old Hurricanes star defensive lineman who was expected to be a top NFL draft pick. Pata was shot and killed on Nov. 7, 2006, outside his home at the Colony Apartments in Kendall. He had just returned from football practice. Jones was arrested on a second-degree murder charge in 2021, 15 years after Pata’s death.
During the hearing, Miranda said she had not reviewed the slew of motions because they were filed at 3:30 a.m. The judge said they were brought past the April 27 deadline, and she wouldn’t hear them unless the trial was pushed back. Jones’ attorneys argued the motions were the result of changed circumstances, including new state witnesses and Segovia being investigated.
Miranda asked Jones, who attended the hearing via Zoom, if he felt his attorneys needed more time to argue the filings.
“I think we need to take a continuance to let those motions be heard,” Jones said.
The hearing came after Segovia was allegedly discovered to have commented on Instagram posts about the case during the trial. One comment said Jones was “guilty as sin.” The judge granted the defense’s emergency request to preserve evidence from Instagram account @balanceof_justice, which attorneys say is linked to Segovia.
Most notably, the defense says, the comments were posted during the trial — and at least once concerned the testimony of a witness — in violation of sequestration, which is supposed to shield witnesses from the proceedings.
The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office confirmed that internal affairs is probing the allegations against Segovia. When reached, the agency declined to comment, saying it “is committed to transparency and accountability, but we must also ensure the integrity of the legal process is preserved.”
The defense is seeking to have Segovia sit through another deposition over the Instagram account’s comments. The attorneys also requested that prosecutors turn over any information in Segovia’s possession related to the account.
Jones’ legal team also asked Meta, which owns Instagram, to preserve the digital evidence.
New twists in case
Among their many requests, Jones’ legal team is asking the court to dismiss the murder charge. The attorneys highlighted the testimony of George French Jones — a jail inmate to whom Jones allegedly confessed. Prosecutors said they intend to call George Jones in the retrial after not having him testify during the March trial.
George Jones “provided information regarding multiple other inmates prosecuted by [former prosecutor] Michael Von Zamft in exchange for promises made by Von Zamft ... of leniency and/or other benefits,” according to a filing. In another criminal case, the inmate testified about the cooperation agreement, saying Von Zamft “personally offered him sentencing benefits in exchange for testimony.”
Von Zamft also has a formal complaint filed against him by the Florida Bar after allegations of misconduct in the case of Corey Smith, a Miami gang boss who had been sentenced to death for killing four people in Liberty City in the 1990s.
READ MORE: Florida Bar files complaint against Miami prosecutor ousted from case of gang leader
The defense also asked the court to order prosecutors to turn over correspondence between George Jones and prosecutors, alleging that the inmate had “multiple unrecorded meetings and communications” with Von Zamft.
