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A judge called a mistrial Monday in the murder case against Rashaun Jones, a former Miami football player who was accused of killing his ex-teammate Bryan Pata back in 2006, The Miami Herald reports. Jones was arrested in August 2021 and charged with first-degree murder after prosecutors said he shot Pata “execution style.”
The jury couldn’t reach a verdict. After six hours of deliberations following a three-week trial, the six jurors remained split on whether Jones, now 40, was responsible for Pata’s death outside his apartment in Miami-Dade County on Nov. 7, 2006.
According to prosecutor Cristina Diamond, Jones and Pata’s relationship had fallen apart during their time as Hurricanes teammates. Jones was serving a team suspension for marijuana use at the time — Diamond argued he was “jealous” of Pata’s status on the team.
Jones has pleaded not guilty.
A former Miami professor who lived at the Colony Apartments, where Pata was killed, picked Jones out of a police photo lineup on two separate occasions. ESPN reported when Jones was arrested that he and Pata had gotten into physical fights before the shooting.
The murder became a national story and remained one of South Florida’s most high-profile cold cases for years. Pata’s family pleaded in 2017 for anyone with information to come forward.
Defense attorney Christian Maroni told the court there’s no “direct, credible evidence” linking Jones to Pata’s death. She pointed to several other suspects who were ruled out too quickly despite evidence at the scene – including fingerprints that didn’t match her client.
Prosecutors now have 90 days under Florida law to retry the case with a new judge and jury. Jones will still need legal representation if they move forward.
The mistrial falls under Florida’s Rules of Criminal Procedure, which allow judges to declare one in three situations: when a defendant enters an insanity plea, when a party fails to comply with discovery rules, or when a jury’s verdict is deadlocked or unclear. This case was the latter.
