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Prosecutors will retry ex-Miami Hurricanes football player Rashaun Jones on May 18, a judge ruled Wednesday after declaring a mistrial earlier this week because of a hung jury in the second-degree murder case.
Florida 11th District Court Judge Cristina Miranda also reduced Jones’ bail from $850,000 to $500,000 after denying his attorney’s request to lower it to $50,000.
Jones’ attorney, Sara Alvarez, said her client is still unable to come up with the money needed to be released under the reduced bond – about $50,000, or 10% of the bond.
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Miranda also asked Jones if he was interested in a plea deal, which Jones declined. He repeated an exchange the two had in a preliminary hearing in which Jones also said he would not accept a plea deal even if he was offered a sentence of 15 years to serve – less than the guidelines for second-degree murder convictions. If convicted, he could face life in prison.
Jones has been in custody since his arrest in August 2021 in connection with the murder of teammate Bryan Pata nearly 15 years ago. Pata was shot in the head outside his apartment complex on November 7, 2006, after returning home from training.
Murder in the U-Podcast
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Prosecutors relied heavily on witness testimony to show that jealousy of a woman and a history of physical altercations led Jones to murder Pata after Jones became distraught over receiving news that he had been suspended for two games for a failed drug test.
A former writing instructor at the University of Miami identified Jones as the man he saw leaving the apartment complex shortly after the murder.
Jurors who spoke to ESPN said the state didn’t have the evidence to prove Jones was the killer and said there were problems with the credibility of eyewitness testimony.
Under Florida law, prosecutors have 90 days to retry a case after a mistrial.
