MIAMI (WSVN) - After weeks of emotional moments inside the courtroom, the jury is now deliberating in the murder trial of former University of Miami football player Rashaun Jones.
Deliberations began on Thursday morning after both sides made their closing statements.
Jones is accused of second-degree murder with a firearm after, prosecutors say, he gunned down his former teammate, Bryan Pata, outside of Jones’ Kendall apartment in November 2006.
The case went cold for over a decade until new evidence surfaced and a key witness who was believed to be dead turned up alive, resulting in Jones being arrested in 2021.
Since then, the former player has maintained his innocence. At one point, he even refused a plea deal from prosecutors.
Earlier on Thursday, both sides made their final pleas to jurors.
“Rashaun Jones is not guilty,” said Jones’ defense attorney Christian Maroni.
“There is only one verdict that makes sense, and that is that the defendant, Rashaun Jones, is guilty. He’s the one who killed Bryan Pata,” said state prosecutor Cristina Diamond.
Prosecutors say Jones shot and killed Pata out of jealousy, referencing his successful football career and a fight the pair had years prior.
“Bryan has everything that the defendant wants, and he chooses to let jealousy overtake him and kill Bryan Pata,” said Diamond.
But the defense argues otherwise. They say the state has been unable thus far to prove Jones’ involvement in the killing beyond a reasonable doubt.
Jones’ attorneys say the presentation of the defendant’s phone records, witness testimony, and other evidence shown in court has been flawed.
“Twenty years later, the government’s trying to — they talk about puzzles. They’re trying to take a piece from this puzzle, a piece from that puzzle, and a piece from this puzzle, and jam them all together, put a picture together, and try to tell you that this equals murder. It doesn’t. ” These puzzle pieces do not fit together,” said Maroni.
Now, his fate is in the hands of the jury.
“Please pay attention to the instructions I am about to give you. Rashaun Jones, the defendant in this case, has been accused of the crime of second-degree murder with a firearm,” said Florida’s 11th Circuit Court Judge Cristina Miranda.
Both the defendant and the victim’s family were in the courtroom. Pata’s family remains desperate for answers, roughly 20 years later, as to who killed their loved one.
If Jones is found guilty, he could face up to life in prison.
The jury was sent home after no verdict was reached by Thursday evening. Deliberations will resume Monday morning.
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