New developments have surfaced in the long-delayed trial over the 2006 killing of University of Miami football player Bryan Pata .

Prosecutors revealed Friday that a key witness — once believed to be dead — is actually alive, adding an unexpected twist just weeks before trial.

Former Hurricanes teammate Rashaun Jones has pleaded not guilty to Pata’s murder and is scheduled to face trial Oct. 6. But Friday, prosecutors admitted in court that they and detectives mistakenly thought their key eyewitness, Paul Conner, had died.

“My office was contacted yesterday afternoon, and subsequently thereafter ESPN released an article whereby they made contact with our eyewitness in this case, Paul Conner,” assistant state attorney Cristina Diamond said.

According to court records, Conner, a Univer

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