West Palm Beach, Florida. The ex-girlfriend of Travis Rudolph was cross-examined for hours on the second day of testimony in the former Florida State football player’s murder trial.
Dominique Jones, who testified the day before that she never intended for her brother and his pals to harm Rudolph when she texted him to “shoot up his s—” after learning of the football player’s potential infidelity, returned to the witness stand Thursday.
Defense counsel Heidi Perlet tried to paint Jones as an unemployed real estate agent who was married to another man, “jealous” of Rudolph’s professional football career, and “angry” with Rudolph at the time of the April 2021 deadly shooting in Lake Park.
Rudolph, 27, is charged with one count of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted first-degree murder in relation to the shooting that killed Sebastien Jean-Jacques.
Jones said Thursday that Rudolph grew aggressive and refused to let her leave after she saw his text messages to another woman. She reportedly admitted to destroying his PlayStation and calling him a “broke b—-” as the argument spilled into Rudolph’s front yard.
“No, the moral of the story is him putting his hands on me,” stated the woman. “That is really the basis of everything, and I didn’t send my brothers to kill him.”
“No, you just sent a text to go ‘shoot up his s—,’ right?” Perlet spoke.
“I didn’t say shoot him,” Jones replied.
When questioned what she meant by her text message, Jones stated that it was “nothing violent toward a person.”
“I was upset and my adrenaline was running and I said something that I didn’t mean,” Jones was quoted as saying.
She went on to add that she “didn’t necessarily mean for anything to happen to Travis, his family, his house, or anything.”
Perlet made it clear that Jones returned inside the house to retrieve a tequila bottle, which Jones allegedly used to punch Rudolph in the head. Jones also testified that she picked up a brick during the altercation and used it to smash the automobile glass.
Jones acknowledged that Rudolph never punched, slapped, or hit her, but she did strike him.
“I don’t think I slapped him, but I did, like, throw a punch or two, yeah, at him,” she said.
Jones also admitted to deleting the “shoot up his s—” text message, as well as another message that her brother sent in a group text referring to Rudolph as a “dead man walking” before handing over her phone to deputies.
Rudolph has been on house arrest since last year after unsuccessfully attempting to employ the “stand your ground” argument.
Following the incident, Jean-Jacques fled and was later discovered critically injured in the front passenger seat of a car in West Palm Beach. The driver and backseat passenger were also in the car, but they were unharmed.
Another victim was discovered with gunshot wounds in Lake Park.
Rudolph, a great wide receiver at Cardinal Newman High School, went on to play for Florida State. He caught 153 passes for 2,311 yards and 18 touchdowns in three seasons with the Seminoles, from 2014 to 2016.
The West Palm Beach native quit school early to enter the NFL draft. Despite not being picked, Rudolph signed with the New York Giants in 2017 and played for them for two seasons.
Rudolph was signed to the Miami Dolphins practice squad in 2018, but he tore his ACL on the first day of practice and never played again in the NFL.
He signed with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League in 2020, but was discharged following his arrest.
Testimony was set to continue on Friday.
