Prosecutors in Miami have verified that a crucial eyewitness in an old murder case involving a University of Miami football player is actually alive, despite earlier assumptions of his death.

81-year-old Paul Conner is believed to be the only eyewitness in the 2006 shooting of ex-Miami football player Bryan Pata. 

Pata’s teammate, Rashaun Jones, is the prime suspect in the case and has been held in jail since 2021. Jones has pled not guilty.

After an ESPN report shed light on the situation, investigators reached out to the police in Louisville, asking them to visit Conner’s last-known residence. There, Conner was found, and his identity was confirmed.

Previously, prosecutors had relied on external databases to verify Conner’s status, leading them to mistakenly believe he had passed away. Direct communication efforts with Conner were not fruitful, given the 81-year-old’s challenges with technology.

In August, ESPN journalists visited Conner’s address, where he personally greeted them. He expressed surprise at any efforts from Miami to reach him, being unaware of such attempts.

During the ESPN visit, reporters examined Conner’s phone and discovered numerous missed calls, including from Miami-area numbers and at least one matching a detective’s contact information from the case. Conner also seemed unsure about accessing his voicemail.

Conner, a now-retiree, was a writing instructor at the University of Miami and lived in the same apartment complex as Pata.

Conner contacted police soon after the shooting, telling them he heard a ‘pop’ and saw someone ‘jogging’ away from the parking lot entrance near where the shooting took place.

As the only eyewitness in the case, Conner spoke to police and/or the court four times – shortly after the shooting in November 2006, in a re-interview in 2020, a bond hearing in 2022, and a deposition in 2023. When asked in two of those interviews, he picked Jones out of a photo lineup.

But when speaking to ESPN on August 25, Conner says he now doesn’t recall what happened and isn’t familiar with his prior statements, telling reporters, ‘I’m getting up in years. My memory comes and goes. How long ago was this court case?’

Miami ASA Cristina Diamond told Judge Cristina Miranda about the database results and the multiple attempts to contact Conner on July 17. The court accepted the efforts to contact him and ruled to allow his prior testimony at the bond hearing and the deposition to be used in trial.

If it is determined that Conner is not competent to testify, Judge Miranda believes the court ‘may still be in the same situation’ and will rely on his previous testimony. 

ESPN made a previous attempt to confirm Conner was alive after a reporter requested police to conduct a welfare check. On July 22, Conner answered his door and confirmed his identity to police.

A Louisville PD spokesperson told ESPN that there were no records of any officer conducting a welfare check up until the outlet and a former colleague at the University of Toledo requested one.

Detectives claim they were told that after contacting Louisville Police, ‘contact was made with the leasing office’ of Conner’s address and ‘they indicated that Mr. Conner did not live there.’

When asked by ESPN, a family member of Conner’s said he had lived there for a number of years.

This misstep from police is yet another in what has become an incredibly prolonged trial. Jones was one of the initial suspects questioned by police in 2006, but he was not arrested until nearly 15 years after Pata’s killing.

Jones was taken into custody in 2021 and has remained there ever since as he has been unable to pay the required amount for release. His bail has been set at $850,000 – of which, typically ten percent (or, in this case, $85,000) is normally required.

Conner remains the only eyewitness in this case – which has also relied on testimony from friends and teammates that Jones and Pata fought verbally and physically prior to Pata’s death.

Jones’ attorney, Sara Alvarez, told ESPN that she was ‘not shocked, but appalled’ after the outlet’s report. 

‘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.’

In prior proceedings, Alvarez had made a motion to dismiss the inclusion of Conner’s previous testimony (when he was believed to be dead) as she would not have been able to cross-examine it. That request was denied. 

In a hearing on Friday, Alvarez requested a hearing to determine if prosecutors violated the rules of evidence – as she believed that the false conclusion of Conner’s death ‘may have been intentional’.

Diamond refuted that accusation, saying ‘This is our key witness in the case. This is somebody we want. The defense is accusing me of making misrepresentations to the court. Every representation made to the court was based upon a conversation with an officer who I was prepared to have testify.’

The trial in this case is set to begin on October 6.