A judge declared a mistrial Monday in the legal case against former Miami football player Rashaun Jones, who was accused of killing ex-teammate Bryan Pata in 2006, The Miami Herald reports. Jones was arrested in August 2021 and charged with first-degree murder after he was accused of shooting Pata “execution style.”
Six jurors were unable to come to a unanimous conclusion after six hours of deliberations following a three-week trial, the newspaper reported. Jurors remain undecided on Jones, 40, as the culprit behind the murder of Pata, who was slain on Nov. 7, 2006, outside his home in Miami-Dade County, Florida.
Jones, who has pleaded not guilty, had a deteriorating relationship with Pata during their time as teammates with the Hurricanes, prosecutor Cristina Diamond said in court. Jones was serving a team suspension for marijuana use and was “jealous” of Pata’s stardom, according to the prosecution.
Jones was identified on two separate occasions out of a police photo lineup by a former Miami professor, who lived in the Colony Apartments where Pata was killed.
ESPN reported at the time of his arrest that Jones and Pata had been in fights before the killing. The murder was a national news story and was a central case in South Florida for several years following Pata’s death.
Pata’s family pleaded in 2017 for help in finding his killer. Defense attorney Christian Maroni said in court there is no “direct, credible evidence” connecting her client to Pata’s death and said there were several suspects too quickly ruled out despite evidence at the scene, including fingerprints.
Under Florida law, the case can be tried with a new judge and jury by prosecutors within 90 days of Monday’s ruling. The defendant, Jones, will still require legal representation.
The judge’s ruling in this case falls under one of the three Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure, where a court may declare a mistrial. The first is an insanity plea from the defendant, with the second coming as a sanction for a party’s failure to comply with discovery rules or orders. The third mistrial option is when a jury’s verdict is deadlocked or unclear.
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