Bryan Pata Murder Trial Ends in Mistrial After 20 Years

A jury deadlocked 5-1 for acquittal in Rashaun Jones's second-degree murder trial for the 2006 killing of Miami football star Bryan Pata, forcing a spring retrial.

After two weeks of testimony, the judge declared a mistrial in the second-degree murder trial of Rashaun Jones, the former University of Miami teammate charged in the 2006 killing of defensive lineman Bryan Pata. The six-person jury could not reach a verdict. When ABC News' 20/20 polled one of the jurors, that juror said five members favored acquittal while a single holdout voted for conviction. Jones had pleaded not guilty and spent four and a half years in jail awaiting trial because he could not afford bail. The trial finally began in February 2026, nearly two decades after Pata was gunned down on Nov. 7, 2006, just months before he was expected to be selected in the NFL draft.

The reversal is striking because the case appeared finally headed toward resolution after 15 silent years. Pata was shot in the head after exiting his vehicle following football practice, and the investigation went quiet until an in-depth ESPN article on the case, 'Who killed Bryan Pata?', helped reignite interest. Pata's brother Edwin told 20/20 that the ESPN article was one catalyst, alongside a more aggressive state prosecutor, that led to Jones's 2021 arrest on second-degree murder charges. Now, five years after that arrest and 20 years after the killing, the state's first attempt at a verdict collapsed with a lone holdout, leaving a family that waited two decades still without legal finality.

The prosecution built its case on Jones's conflicts with Pata and an alleged eyewitness investigators claimed placed him at the scene. Police cited his cell phone records and the alleged eyewitness as key evidence tying him to the crime. According to ABC News, investigators found Jones was the only player to miss a mandatory team meeting the night Pata was killed; teammates told investigators the two had physically fought, Jones had threatened Pata, and Jones had reportedly once been romantically involved with Pata's girlfriend, Jada Brody. On the murder morning, Jones was suspended from the team after a second positive marijuana test and changed his phone number. Jones maintained his innocence, telling police a 'young and wild' past had nothing to do with killing anyone.

The defense argued police never treated Jones like a suspect and never brought him in for a sworn statement for more than 15 years — a delay that framed the entire case as built on stale evidence. Jones's attorney, Sara Alvarez, told 20/20 that Jones refused a plea deal to keep fighting for his innocence, saying 'Mr. Jones continues to be presumed innocent, and we will be back to fight this again at the next trial.' While detained, Jones described an 'up-and-down relationship' with Pata, saying teammates clashed and 'females got involved,' but denied any role in the killing.

The state attorney signaled it intends to retry Jones later this spring, meaning the 20-year-old case will return to court rather than close. For Pata's family, the mistrial extends a wait that has already stretched across two decades; his brother Edwin remembered a brother who 'lit up every room he walked into,' saying it is still hard for the family today. The case remains a touchstone in the cold-case-true-crime revival era, alongside other campus football tragedies — Providence police charged 19-year-old Chukuwnonso Uzoma Eze with murder in the fatal stabbing of UMass Dartmouth first-year player Marvins Antoine after a fight outside Mezza Lounge, per WCVB. The 20/20 episode 'Murder at the U' and its After Show podcast continue to keep the Pata case in public view ahead of the retrial.