MIAMI — Jurors deliberated for nearly six hours Thursday without a verdict in the murder trial of former Miami Hurricanes player Rashaun Jones, who is accused of shooting teammate Bryan Pata outside an apartment in 2006.
Six jurors, excluding three alternates, were sent out to determine Jones’ guilt or innocence by Florida 11th Circuit Court Judge Cristina Miranda after five days of testimony.
They sent back several questions during the afternoon, including a request to see Miami’s football media guide, a cellphone tower map used as evidence in the case and testimony from key eyewitness Paul Conner. They also asked to see the bullet that killed Pata.
After 6:30 p.m., the jurors had not reached consensus and were told to return Monday to continue. Miranda’s court is not scheduled to meet on Fridays.
Nearly all of the evidence against Jones, 40, is circumstantial amid a flurry of police missteps that came to light over the years. Jones was not charged in the case until nearly 15 years after the killing.
He has maintained his innocence throughout and declined plea offers just before trial that would have limited his prison time. Now he could face up to life in prison if convicted.
Prosecutors relied heavily on recorded testimony from Conner, who told police he encountered someone walking away from the apartment complex where Pata was killed shortly after the shooting. He provided a description to police, and seven months later — after police identified Jones as a suspect — he picked Jones out of a photo lineup.
During closing arguments, prosecutor Cristina Diamond told jurors that multiple signs pointed to Jones and his motivation, including a two-game team suspension he received that day after a second failed drug test, cellphone records that contradicted what he said of his whereabouts, and a suspicious call he’d made to another athlete to ask for money.
But defense attorney Christian Maroni pointed to a list of what he said were shortcomings in Conner’s credibility and said he had misidentified Jones.
ESPN’s Dan Arruda and Scott Frankel contributed to this report.
