{"id":787669,"date":"2026-03-02T22:41:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T22:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/787669\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T22:41:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T22:41:16","slug":"judge-declares-mistrial-in-killing-of-miami-football-star-bryan-pata-20-years-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/787669\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Declares Mistrial in Killing of Miami Football Star Bryan Pata, 20 Years Later"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>                          Ex-Miami FB Star Bryan Pata<br \/>\n                          Murder Case Ends in Mistrial<br \/>\n                          &#8230; Nearly 20 Years After Killing<\/p>\n<p>\n                                                                        Published<br \/>\n                              March 2, 2026<br \/>\n                            12:51 PM PST<br \/>\n                                                                      |<br \/>\n                                                                Updated<br \/>\n                                  March 2, 2026<br \/>\n                                1:24 PM PST\n                                    <\/p>\n<p>                  <a class=\"js-click-image js-track-link image-lightbox-preview\" data-node-ref=\"tmz:image-asset:image_jpg_20260302_5a3cad3e44e346088eda70868e2d4df5\" data-container-ref=\"tmz:article:a77b3e61-c297-483b-905e-a120193eadea\" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;permalink&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;image&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p>                          <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/5a3cad3e44e346088eda70868e2d4df5_md.jpg\" alt=\"Bryan Pata University of Miami\" width=\"728\" height=\"546\" class=\"img-fluid image-block__img-fluid img-aspect-auto\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>The murder trial in the 2006 killing of former University of Miami standout Bryan Pata has ended in a mistrial.<\/p>\n<p>Jurors told the judge Monday &#8212; their second day of deliberations &#8212; they couldn\u2019t reach a unanimous verdict in the murder trial of Rashaun Jones, who is accused of fatally shooting Bryan Pata outside his southwest Miami-Dade apartment in 2006.<\/p>\n<p>                  <a class=\"js-click-image js-track-link image-lightbox-preview\" data-node-ref=\"tmz:image-asset:image_jpg_20260302_1b45af30b8c84f738adf1039b7f25f26\" data-container-ref=\"tmz:article:a77b3e61-c297-483b-905e-a120193eadea\" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;permalink&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;image&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p>                          <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1b45af30b8c84f738adf1039b7f25f26_md.jpg\" alt=\"Bryan Pata getty\" width=\"728\" height=\"546\" class=\"img-fluid image-block__img-fluid img-aspect-auto\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>After giving the panel more time to deliberate and learning they were still deadlocked, Judge Cristina Miranda declared a mistrial and a hung jury.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"continued\" class=\"continued-anchor\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Pata, a star defensive lineman for the Hurricanes, was shot multiple times outside his apartment on Nov. 7, 2006 &#8212; just hours after football practice. He was 22 years old and at 6-foot-4, 280 pounds, he was widely projected to be selected in the 2007 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n<p>His death rocked the Miami football community and went unsolved for nearly 15 years.<\/p>\n<p>In 2021, police arrested former Hurricanes teammate Rashaun Jones &#8230; accusing him of pulling the trigger following what prosecutors described as long-standing tensions between the two. Authorities alleged jealousy and personal beef fueled the killing &#8212; but Jones pleaded not guilty and has maintained his innocence from day one.<\/p>\n<p>                  <a class=\"js-click-image js-track-link image-lightbox-preview\" data-node-ref=\"tmz:image-asset:image_jpg_20260302_4460180109f44764b31fa3c67390d4d7\" data-container-ref=\"tmz:article:a77b3e61-c297-483b-905e-a120193eadea\" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;permalink&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;image&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p>                          <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/4460180109f44764b31fa3c67390d4d7_md.jpg\" alt=\"Bryan Pata memorial getty\" width=\"728\" height=\"546\" class=\"img-fluid image-block__img-fluid img-aspect-auto\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>During five days of testimony in Miami-Dade County, prosecutors presented a largely circumstantial case &#8212; including witness testimony placing Jones near the scene, cell phone records and accounts of prior disputes between the two former teammates.<\/p>\n<p>The defense attacked the credibility of witnesses and argued there was no physical evidence directly tying Jones to the shooting.<\/p>\n<p>NBC South Florida reports Pata&#8217;s family said prosecutors plan to seek a new trial. Under Florida law, that must come within 90 days.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Still, Monday added another painful chapter in a nearly two-decade wait for answers.<\/p>\n<p>The question of who killed the Miami football star remains unanswered in a court of law &#8212; and for the Miami football community, the wound remains open.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ex-Miami FB Star Bryan Pata Murder Case Ends in Mistrial &#8230; Nearly 20 Years After Killing Published March&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":787670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,49,48,88,9,266,4429],"class_list":{"0":"post-787669","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-sports-news","14":"tag-tmz-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=787669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}