A bombshell development has caused a delay in the start of a trial for former University of Miami Hurricanes football player Rashaun Jones.
Jones is charged with second-degree murder for the shooting death of his teammate Bryan Pata back in 2006.
The state and defense legal teams were supposed to present their opening statements on Tuesday.
Instead, the judge dismissed the jurors for the day after Jones’ attorney says ICE told them Pata’s killer is actually a Haitian hitman.
Bryan Pata’s mother sat behind prosecutors, crying as the trial she’d waited nearly two decades for was set to get underway, but there was a delay.
“There’s specific language in that confession that says I just killed that kid from the University of Miami. So now we have a specific statement, linking that confession to the murder of Bryan Pata,” said Christian Maroni, Rashaun Jones’ attorney.
40-year-old Jones sat in a beige sweater as his defense team delayed his trial for the 2006 murder.
According to the defense, late Friday, an ICE agent confirmed that a confidential informant told them a Haitian hitman was responsible for Pata’s murder, arguing the lack of investigation.
“I don’t know how we could effectively cross-examine on failure to investigate leads if we can’t get into some details about those leads,” said Maroni.
The prosecution team argued it should not be allowed into the courtroom because it is hearsay.
“Here, as we’ve gone over at nauseam. There are no other supporting documents. There are no other witnesses that can testify to this information,” said Cristina Diamond, prosecutor.
After taking two breaks for the judge to review documents and the defense team to depose the ICE special agent who has the information.
The judge says she is not sold on allowing the information because there is truly no one to take the stand and clarify this accusation.
“Unless you all have direct evidence that I can use in this case, that I can agree to, and I can allow it to be admissible. This is all based on speculation. The entire thing,” said the Miami-Dade judge.
Right as the judge was set to make a final decision on whether to allow this evidence into the trial, the defense team got an email that they would be allowed to depose the ICE agent again.
The legal teams re-entered the courtroom after deposing the ice agent for a second time.
The ice agent went into more detail about the new allegation regarding a hitman being responsible for Pata’s murder.
“Specifically he said the confidential informant, that the confidential informant the guy told him he was doing voodoo at the gravesite,” said Jones’ attorney.
Originally, the legal teams were only allowed to ask the ICE agent six questions regarding the new revelation that the murderer was allegedly a Haitian hitman.
The agent confirmed the confidential informant told him the person killed was UM football player Bryan Pata.
The newly surfaced hitman did voodoo at the grave site, according to the ICE agent’s testimony.
“The special agent was able to find items related to this kind of stuff. Where the confidential informant is based on the information,” said Maroni.
“There were well-meaning members of the community doing these types of rituals, hoping Bryan would speak through the grave site, so the police would get a tip. For the police to get a break,” said the prosecutor.
The judge said the court will resume 1030 Wednesday morning with both legal teams expected to present their opening statements.
