MIAMI (Court TV) — A Florida judge grew visibly frustrated with defense attorneys on Thursday as she agreed to delay the retrial for a man accused of killing his teammate on the University of Miami football team.
Rashaun Jones attends a virtual court hearing on May 7, 2026. (Court TV)
Rashaun Jones, 40, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder in the death of Bryan Pata, 22. Pata was shot several times and killed outside of his apartment on Nov. 7, 2026, after returning from campus in his car. Witnesses reported hearing arguing before gunshots. Investigators said that Pata’s wallet, which contained hundreds of dollars in cash, was left at the scene along with the victim’s vehicle. A mistrial was declared in Jones’ first trial earlier this year, when jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict.
With the retrial scheduled to begin on May 18, Thursday was scheduled for a brief hearing to confirm that both sides were ready for trial. But things went off the rails quickly when Judge Cristina Miranda questioned why the defense had filed several motions at 3:30 a.m. that morning, given the deadline for motions was April 27.
“We are ready for trial; we can litigate those motions before trial,” Jones’ attorney, Sara Alvarez, said. “Oh, Ms. Alvarez, see, the thing is that I’m the one who keeps the calendar,” Miranda snapped back. “So I don’t know when you pretend that I’m going to hear — how many motions are we talking about? … Filing motions at 3 o’clock in the morning the day before sounding doesn’t establish an emergency on my part. When the court sets a deadline, that deadline needs to be followed. The consequence of not filing it on the deadline would either be a continuance or the attorneys can be held in contempt for not following the rule. I don’t understand what makes you think this case is any different than any other case that was heard here today.”
The defense motions attempt to raise several issues, including a formal disciplinary complaint now filed against the former prosecutor of the case, the relisting of a jailhouse informant on the prosecution’s witness list and an allegation that a detective on the case is the subject of an internal affairs investigation into his conduct.
Miranda made it clear the motions would not be heard on Thursday and then grew increasingly frustrated when the defense seemingly could not decide whether to withdraw the motions and declare they were ready or ask for a continuance and a hearing on the issues. She noted that she did not even have a copy of the filings because the defense didn’t supply her clerk with a courtesy copy. “I think it’s sort of inappropriate for you to say that you knew the court would have something that you filed at 3 o’clock in the morning,” Miranda said. “It’s actually ridiculous and absurd.”
Both sides then asked for a continuance, which Miranda denied. She then allowed a continuance after a brief colloquy with Jones. “I think we need to take a continuance to let the motions be heard in court,” he said when asked what he wanted.
Jones was arrested in 2021 after investigators said they determined the two had had confrontations before the shooting. Pata allegedly had beaten Jones in a physical altercation; the victim’s brother told police that Jones had threatened to shoot Pata two months before his death. His attorneys noted that because he has been behind bars for five years, they will file a motion to reconsider bond, which will also be argued on May 18.
Jones’ murder trial is now scheduled to begin on Sept. 14.
