Jurors: Prosecutors failed to prove Miami football murder case - ESPN

A lack of direct evidence and inconsistent testimony from the lead Miami-Dade police detective caused most of the jury to decide prosecutors hadn't proven ex-Miami Hurricanes player Rashaun Jones killed teammate Bryan Pata, according to jurors who spoke with ESPN.

The trial ended in a mistrial on Monday, with one juror telling ESPN that only one of six jury members wanted to convict Jones, and the other five wanted to acquit. In Florida, a six-person jury must be unanimous.

Prosecutors indicated in a hearing Tuesday morning with the judge and defense attorneys that they intend to retry the case. Florida law gives them 90 days in which to do that, and the parties are scheduled to meet Wednesday to pick a new trial date.

Prosecutors did not immediately comment, and neither did a spokesperson for the state attorney's office. Jones' attorney, Sara Alvarez, spoke to media after the hearing and said she will ask the judge to lower Jones' bond, currently set at $850,000. A GoFundMe page has been created to raise the money.

Three jurors answered questions for ESPN after the mistrial, and all wanted to remain anonymous. An alternate juror who was dismissed before deliberations also offered his perspective on the proceedings and agreed to be identified by his first name, Ryan. The lone holdout juror could not be reached.

Ryan said he feels bad for the Pata family, who «seem like lovely people,» but said police simply didn't prove their case against Jones.

«They don't deserve that because I think they were misled [by police],» Ryan said. «I mean, somebody did it. But they didn't have what it took to prove that it was Rashaun.… They presented us with a motive that was flaccid… there wasn't enough there.»

One of the anonymous jurors