Pouya Dianat-Imagn Images
A key witness who picked Miami Hurricanes football player Bryan Pata’s alleged murderer, Rashaun Jones, out of a lineup, more than once, had been presumed dead by Florida law enforcement. He isn’t.
In fact, the witness, 81-year-old Paul Conner, a retired University of Miami writing instructor, answered his apartment door in Louisville, Kentucky when ESPN reporters recently knocked on it. On top of that, Conner told the ESPN reporters that he didn’t know that anyone was looking for him and that he wouldn’t have been difficult to find since he rarely leaves his apartment.
Rashaun Jones is accused of killing his teammate Bryan Pata way back in 2006, but he wasn’t arrested until 2021. The murder trial of Jones, himself a former Miami Hurricanes football player and teammate of Pata, was scheduled to finally take place on Oct. 6, but that now is up in the air.
According to ESPN, Florida prosecutors had repeatedly told a court that Paul Conner, who lived in the apartment complex where Bryan Pata was shot in the head, had died. Conner had picked Jones out of a photo lineup in 2006 and did so again in 2020 when he was re-interviewed. He also shared what he witnessed at a 2022 bond hearing and again in a 2023 deposition.
A spokesperson for the state attorney’s office in Florida told ESPN that a public database “seemed to indicate” Paul Conner was deceased. He also said that at some point police officers in Louisville had been asked to knock on Conner’s door, but that it didn’t result in the knowledge that he was still alive. Police bodycam images from July 22 reveal that Conner answered and confirmed his identity to Louisville police after a former colleague requested a welfare check. The address listed in the database that Florida law enforcement used is the same one that ESPN reporters were visiting when they found Conner. The Louisville Police Department said there were no records of any officer going to Conner’s address until that welfare check in July.
Now Conner says he doesn’t recall what happened in Miami or what he told police, blaming his advanced age. “I’m getting up in years. My memory comes and goes. How long ago was this court case?” he asked.
“I’m not shocked, but appalled,” Jones’ attorney, Sara Alvarez told ESPN. “This is a bigger issue. This is just blatant lies. Bald-faced lies. It’s a shame and it’s disgusting that you would be willing to send a man to prison for the rest of his life without any evidence and then not be honest about what evidence exists and doesn’t exist.”
Jones’ attorneys had previously objected to Conner’s testimony being allowed because they would have been unable to cross-examine him about his statements. Alvarez now says she plans to question the lead detective about what she alleges were lies and misrepresentations of evidence.