Live updates: Man who confronted Travis Rudolph describes front-yard brawl on day 2 of murder trial

WEST PALM BEACH — Day two of the murder trial of former Florida State University football player Travis Rudolph began Thursday.

Attorneys for both sides presented opening statements Wednesday, one casting Rudolph as the aggressor and the other insisting he was a victim. Rudolph, who played briefly in the NFL, is charged with murder and three counts of attempted murder in connection with a fatal shooting outside of his Lake Park home two years ago.

Four men appeared on Rudolph's doorstep shortly after midnight onApril 7, 2021, to confront him about a dispute he had with his girlfriend hours earlier. The dispute turned violent, Rudolph said, and he armed himself with an AR-15.

Day 1 recap: Travis Rudolph girlfriend calls threatening text a 'horrible, horrible' mistake

Prosecutors told jurors Wednesday that the men had already begun to drive away in a black Cadillac by the time Rudolph fired 39 rounds in their direction, killing Sebastien Jean-Jacques in the passenger seat.

Rudolph asked Circuit Judge Jeffrey Gillen to dismiss the case last year on the basis of Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law, which permits the use of deadly force to protect against either death or great bodily harm. Gillen denied his request, leaving jurors to decide whether Rudolph ended Jean-Jacques' life to save his own.

Follow along for live updates from inside the courtroom, where the proceedings resumed at 9:30 a.m. Thursday.

Man who confronted Rudolph says he and his friends just wanted to talk

Christopher Lowe, one of the four young men who arrived at Rudolph’s home, said he and his friends did so without a plan. They knocked on the door, and Rudolph’s brother answered, quickly followed by Rudolph himself.

“He came out with his shirt off, already mad, already riled up,” Lowe said.

Lowe said they were there to talk to Rudolph about an altercation he had with Dominique Jones, his girlfriend at the time, but the former NFL player acted as though he expected a fight. They exchanged a few words and Rudolph “body-slammed” Jones’ brother, Keishaun Jones, in the front yard, Lowe said. A brawl ensued.

Lowe said he didn’t bring a weapon to Rudolph’s house and didn’t see any of the men in his party brandish one, either. Their fist fight was broken up by periodic pauses, reignited each time someone threw another punch. Lowe said he and Keishaun realized at about the same time that it needed to end.

“We’re looking at each other like, ‘What are we doing?’ ” Lowe said.

He said he began calling his two friends back to the car while Keishaun hurried ahead to put the key in the ignition. Then Lowe noticed Sebastien Jean-Jacques fighting Rudolph's brother alone.

He told jurors he joined Jean-Jacque in the fight to give his friend an opportunity to run back to the car, Lowe hot on his heels.

Heidi Perlet, Rudolph's defense attorney, said Wednesday that Lowe and Jean-Jacque were "beating the hell" out of the brother — spurring Rudolph to run back inside his home and retrieve his rifle.

Lowe said he and Jean-Jacque ran back to the car. They scooted inside a second before Rudolph began firing.

Rudolph's defense attorney Marc Shiner pressed Lowe to admit he couldn't see whether Jean-Jacque was pointing a gun back at Rudolph when the first gunshots rang out. Lowe agreed. The defense attorney also suggested Lowe and his friends had time to discard weapons before police responded to their 911 call. Lowe adamantly and repeatedly denied the accusation.

Dominique Jones spars with Travis Rudolph's defense attorney

Dominique Jones, who texted her brother and his friend to "please go shoot his s*** up" after arguing with Rudolph, testified Wednesday that she didn't intend for the men to actually harm her then-boyfriend. She returned to the witness stand Thursday to undergo questioning by Perlet, who insisted that a deadly confrontation was exactly what Jones wanted.

Perlet harped on the couple's troubled relationship. Jones was married to another man when she discovered evidence of infidelity on Rudolph's cellphone, sparking the dispute that ended in gunfire on Rudolph's lawn hours later.

Jones became violent when she found those texts, the defense attorney said. Jones agreed but insisted she only began hitting Rudolph after he called her offensive names.

Her exchange with Perlet became strained at points. Perlet asked Jones if she spoke to Rudolph in the same combative way she spoke to Perlet, prompting a quick objection from Assistant State Attorney Francine Edwards.

"Did he punch you?" Perlet asked. "Did he slap you? Did he pick up any objects and hit you over the head?"

No, Jones said. She conceded that she smashed Rudolph's truck window with a brick but denied screaming that she would send her brother over to kill him. She wanted her brother to talk to Rudolph, she said. Not actually "shoot his s*** up," which she said she texted in anger.

"I made a terrible choice of words," Jones told the jury. "I was 23. I was young. I was dumb."

Rudolph's defense attorney read aloud a selection of Jones' internet search history, which included terms "accessory to murder," "stand your ground" and the name of Rudolph's lawyer. Perlet asked Jones if a guilty conscience prompted her interest in the topics, but Jones denied it.

Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Travis Rudolph trial update: Man recounts brawl that preceded fatal shots