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Paula Lavigne
Multiple authors
MIAMI – Jurors deliberated for nearly six hours Thursday in the 2006 murder trial of Rashaun Jones, the former Miami Hurricanes player accused of shooting teammate Brian Pata outside an apartment.
After five days of testimony, Florida’s 11th Circuit Court Judge Christina Miranda sent six jurors, with three alternates, to decide Jones’ guilt or innocence.
They sent back several questions about noon, including a request to see Miami’s football media guide, a cellphone tower map used as evidence in the case and testimony from key witness Paul Conner. They also asked to see the bullet that killed them.
After 6:30 p.m., jurors had not reached a consensus and were asked to return on Monday to continue. Miranda is not scheduled to appear in court Friday.
Almost all of the evidence against Jones, 40, is circumstantial because of a flurry of police wrongdoing that has come to light over the years. Jones was not charged in the case until nearly 15 years after the murder.
He maintains his innocence and rejected a plea offer just before trial that would have limited his prison time. He now faces up to life in prison if convicted.
Prosecutors relied heavily on the recorded testimony of Conner, who told police he encountered a man not far from the apartment complex where Pata was killed shortly after he was shot. He gave police a description, and seven months later — after police identified Jones as a suspect — he picked Jones out of a photo lineup.
During closing arguments, prosecutor Christina Diamond told jurors that multiple signs pointed to Jones and his motivation, including a two-game team suspension the day he failed a second drug test, cellphone records that contradicted what he had said about his whereabouts, and a suspicious call he made to another athlete asking for money.
But defense attorney Christian Maroney pointed to a list of flaws in Conner’s credibility and said he misidentified Jones.
ESPN’s Dan Arruda and Scott Frankel contributed to this report.
