MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — Rashaun Jones, who is awaiting trial for Bryan Pata’s 2006 murder, was back in Miami-Dade County court on Tuesday as his defense and the prosecution argued about witness testimony.
After listening to witness testimony related to the alleged conflicts between the University of Miami Hurricanes teammates, Judge Cristina Miranda had yet to decide if she was going to allow it into evidence.
Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney Cristina Diamond told Miranda that although some of the witness testimony that the defense wanted excluded served as evidence of Jones’s pattern of behavior, there was a statement that defined motive.
Diamond repeated it in court.
“Call your Zoes and clip up,” Jones allegedly told Pata after a fist fight in August 2004, according to witnesses for the prosecution.
Diamond had submitted a memo on July 16 about witnesses who reported Jones’s alleged statements to include a threat to “burn him in the head” just months before the murder, court records show.
Attorney Sara Alvarez, who represents Jones, submitted a memo in response on Aug. 15 asking Miranda to make some of the “collateral-act evidence” inadmissible, court records show.
Some of it, Alvarez argued, was “inadmissible hearsay,” or “too remote,” “dissimilar,” or “substantially outweighed by unfair prejudice.”
On Monday, Dave Howell and Eric Moncur, two former Canes players who were friends with Pata, testified in court that they heard Jones, then a freshman, make the “Call your Zoes and clip up!” threat after they separated him from Pata during a fight in Moncur’s dorm room.
The prosecution established that “Zoes” referred to Pata and his friends being of Haitian descent, not to be confused with the 90s Zoe Pound street gang -- and “clip up” referred to loading a gun.
Pata, a Hurricanes defensive lineman who graduated from Miami Central High School and was majoring in criminology, was fatally shot on Nov. 7, 2006, in Kendall. The 2007 NFL draft prospect was 22.
Two of Pata’s brothers testified on Monday that Pata told them about Jones’s alleged threats. Miguel Dominguez, the lead Miami-Dade detective in the murder case from 2007 to 2020, testified on Tuesday for the defense.
“I spoke with the family on a few occasions,” Dominguez said as he appeared remotely during the hearing.
Prosecutors filed a case against Jones, of Lake City, on Aug. 17, 2021, when Dominguez was no longer involved. Jones was arrested on Aug. 19, 2021, in Marion County and booked on Aug. 26, 2021, in Miami-Dade after his extradition, records show.
Jones pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder with a deadly weapon. County inmate records show correctional deputies were holding Jones, now 40, at the Metrowest Detention Center.
Court records show the next hearing on pre-trial motions is at 9:30 a.m. on Friday. There were also hearings set for Aug. 22 and Sept. 25, and a trial hearing for Oct. 6.
READ MEMOS
Prosecution’s filing
Defense’s filing
WATCH VIDEOS
Pre-trial hearing testimony on Monday
Dave Howell testifies
Eric Moncur testifies
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