Prosecutors: Witness in Miami murder case found

Florida prosecutors confirmed successful a proceeding Friday that their cardinal witnesser successful the execution lawsuit of a erstwhile University of Miami shot subordinate is live and was contacted Thursday by officers wherever helium lives successful Kentucky.

ESPN reported Thursday that, contempt prosecutors stating July 17 that they tried each effort to find 81-year-old Paul Conner and had a study from a commercialized database helium was dead, journalists recovered Conner live astatine his flat successful Louisville.

Conner is the lone eyewitness successful the lawsuit against erstwhile Miami shot subordinate Rashaun Jones, who is facing second-degree execution charges successful the 2006 shooting of teammate Bryan Pata. Jones, who was arrested successful 2021, has pleaded not guilty.

Miami adjunct authorities lawyer Cristina Diamond told Florida 11th Circuit Court Judge Cristina Miranda that, aft the ESPN communicative was published, her pb detective reached retired to constabulary successful Louisville and asked them to spell to Conner's last-known code -- wherever ESPN reporters had recovered him.

"They were capable to marque interaction with Paul Conner. So astatine this time, what I tin archer the tribunal is that Paul Conner is alive," Diamond said, adding that she had reviewed the officer's assemblage camera footage. "I deliberation the authorities needs to bash a small spot of further investigation. It appears that helium was precise confused and is not definite what the lawsuit is about."

When ESPN reporters interviewed Conner connected Aug. 25, helium said helium did not retrieve details astir the case. Miranda had ruled successful July that, assuming Conner was dead, the authorities could contiguous jurors a videotape of anterior grounds helium gave successful 2022 successful a enslaved proceeding successful the lawsuit successful lieu of having him attest successful person.

If a determination is made that Conner is not competent to testify, she said, "we whitethorn inactive beryllium successful the aforesaid situation."

Conner archetypal spoke to constabulary soon aft the Nov. 7, 2006, shooting, and helium picked Jones retired of a constabulary lineup. Police reinterviewed him successful 2020. Conner besides recounted what helium saw astatine the 2022 enslaved proceeding and successful a 2023 deposition with attorneys.

At the clip of the shooting, Conner lived successful the aforesaid flat analyzable arsenic Pata. He said during his 2022 grounds that helium heard a "pop" and saw idiosyncratic "jogging" distant from the parking batch entranceway adjacent wherever Pata, a apt precocious prime successful the 2007 NFL draft, was changeable erstwhile successful the head.

How the confirmation of Conner's presumption affects the case, which is scheduled for proceedings Oct. 6, is to beryllium determined aft attorneys argued successful tribunal Friday astir what steps to instrumentality adjacent regarding questioning Conner and going implicit the grounds of the state's anterior efforts to find him.

Jones' lawyer Sara Alvarez told Miranda that she wanted to petition a proceeding to find if prosecutors violated the rules of evidence, saying she thought the mendacious decision of Conner's decease "may person been intentional."

Diamond rebutted that accusation, saying Miami-Dade officers made aggregate attempts to scope Conner.

"This is our cardinal witnesser successful the case. This is idiosyncratic we want," Diamond told the judge. "The defence is accusing maine of making misrepresentations to the court. Every practice made to the tribunal was based upon a speech with an serviceman who I was prepared to person testify."

Diamond was referring to officers from the Louisville Police Department who she said went to Conner's code implicit the summertime and "spoke to idiosyncratic but believed it was not the witness." She said she had a transcript of the assemblage camera footage arsenic well. She said those officers told her they besides spoke to idiosyncratic with the apartment's leasing bureau who did not find Conner successful their records.

She said they did not find a decease certificate successful Kentucky but relied connected the third-party commercialized database that stated Conner was deceased. Jones' counsel asked for a transcript of that study on with different records that would verify the state's efforts.

The Louisville officers did not attest Friday, arsenic the justice decided to springiness the attorneys immoderate clip to correspond with each different and determine however they wanted to proceed.

ESPN had asked for records oregon accusation from the Louisville Police Department regarding efforts to find Conner, and ...