MIAMI — The man accused of murdering University of Miami star football player Bryan Pata 15 years ago has been extradited to Miami, and will remain in jail before trial.
A judge on Friday ordered Rashaun Jones held without bond. He made his first appearance Friday, eight days after police arrested him in Marion County on a charge of first-degree murder. Jones, a former UM defensive back who played alongside Pata, was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center late Thursday.
His arrest came 15 years after Pata, a star defensive lineman who was expected to be a top NFL draft pick, was gunned down outside his Kendall apartment on Nov. 7, 2006. Police say Jones, 35, had been feuding with Pata, who once told his brother that his teammate had threatened to shoot him, according to an arrest warrant.
Miami-Dade homicide detectives long suspected Jones, who publicly mourned Pata alongside other team members after the murder. The case against him is largely circumstantial — relying on accounts of his bad blood with Pata, cell records that place him in the area of the killing and an eyewitness who identified Jones as the man fleeing the area of the shooting.
Jones appeared in court via closed-circuit television from the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. He wore a padded gown usually reserved for suicidal inmates.
His defense attorney, Michael Mirer, pressed the judge to grant him a bond. Mirer criticized the police department, saying the eyewitness — who did not see a gun or witness the shooting itself — had identified Jones back in 2006, and the arrest warrant revealed no new evidence.
“For the Miami-Dade police to [obtain] an arrest warrant 15 years later with the information they had 15 years ago is unacceptable,” Mirer said. “This man is entitled to a bond.”
Assistant State Attorney Michael Von Zamft argued that another circuit judge had signed the arrest warrant for first-degree murder with a deadly weapon, which in Florida automatically means a defendant is not entitled to a bond. Circuit Judge Mindy Glazer, who presides over first appearances, agreed.
Jones’ defense team, however, can ask for what is known as an “Arthur hearing” before Circuit Judge Cristina Miranda, who will preside over the case. The judge could allow Jones out on bond, if his lawyers can prove the evidence is weak and he is not a threat to the community.
No Arthur hearing date has been set yet. Jones will be arraigned in about three weeks. Prosecutors will also have to go to a grand jury to indict Jones for first-degree murder, which means he could potentially face the death penalty as punishment.
