Key witness in Miami player’s murder found alive after being presumed dead
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A witness who had picked a Miami football player’s alleged murderer out of a lineup multiple times was presumed dead.
However, last month, reporters from ESPN found Paul Conner, 81, alive at his home in Louisville.
Conner lived at the same apartment complex as Bryan Pata, a Miami football standout who was killed on Nov. 7, 2006. He testified that he saw a man “jogging” after he heard a loud “pop” in the complex.
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Rashaun Jones (38) is accused of killing Bryan Pata. (Doug Benc/Getty Images)
That man was Rashaun Jones, who has been in custody for four years awaiting trial for Pata’s murder.
Prosecutors told a Florida judge as recently as July that Conner was dead, relying on that belief from a public database that “seemed to indicate” Conner was not alive.
“Is there an impact of that on the case? I would have to say yes, potentially,” the spokesperson, Ed Griffith, told ESPN.
Jones has been awaiting trial for nearly four years. It finally begins on Oct. 6. (Doug Benc/Getty Images)
However, Conner told ESPN that he did not recall the incident, nor his prior statements, and asked, “How long ago was this court case?”
Members of that year’s Hurricanes have said Pata and Jones did not get along, and Jones owned a gun that was similar to the weapon believed to have been used to kill Pata, who was projected to be selected in the following year’s NFL Draft.
Bryan Pata was shot and killed outside his apartment in Florida on Nov. 7, 2006, after football training. (Bob Leverone/Sporting News via Getty Images via Getty Images)
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Jones’s trial has been constantly delayed, but it is finally beginning on Oct. 6. He has pleaded not guilty and maintained his innocence.
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