MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — Dwayne Hendricks, a former NFL defensive tackle who played for the New York Giants and the Miami Hurricanes, testified on Wednesday in Miami-Dade County court.
It was the first day of the second-degree murder trial of his former Canes teammate Rashaun Jones, who was accused of fatally shooting his former roommate and teammate, Bryan Pata, a Canes defensive lineman.
Hendricks, who was born and raised in Millville, New Jersey, described his friendship with Pata, who was born and raised in Miami-Dade County.
“Bryan was the only person in this team who really opened his family to me,” Hendricks, 39, said.
Hedricks found Pata, 22, dead. Prosecutors played the audio of his 911 call. Pata was near his parked black Infiniti QX56 at The Colony Apartments at 9355 SW 77 Ave., in the Dadeland area.
Hendricks said he thought Pata, a jokester, was playing a prank at first.
“He had a puddle of blood behind his head. That’s when it hit me. He wasn’t playing,” Hendricks said.
Prosecutors showed crime scene photos during Hendricks’s testimony. Pata’s mother, Jeanette Pata, was in tears.
A photo showed the body of her son, a 6-foot-4, 280-pound NFL prospect, on a grassy area between a concrete parking block and a line of bushes.
“To call his mom and say that her youngest was dead, it was just like, you don’t understand how hard it was for me,” Hendricks said.
Pata’s older half-brother, Fednol Pierre, was the first witness on Wednesday afternoon after the attorneys’ opening statements.
Hendricks called Pierre and left him a voicemail on Nov. 7, 2006, yelling, “Pata got shot! Pata got shot!”
Pierre said he and his younger brother were close, and Jones had come up in conversation before the murder.
“Never friends,” Pierre said in court about Jones and Pata.
The U.S. Marshals fugitive task force and M-DSO deputies arrested Jones on Aug. 19, 2021, in Ocala, a few days after a judge issued an arrest warrant citing “ongoing issues” between the teammates.
Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Cristina Miranda has been presiding over the case.
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