Both Sides Rest In Self-Defense Hearing For Darius Miles

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Both sides rested on Friday in the hearing to determine if former Alabama basketball player Darius Miles is immune from prosecution after allegedly providing his friend with his legally owned handgun that was eventually used in a shootout resulting in the death of 23-year-old Birmingham native Jamea Harris.

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The hearing was the continuance of a prolonged series of hearings in the capital murder case and Circuit Court Judge Daniel Pruet said he would issue his order on the matter "soon."

This will come in the former of a written order.

Prior to the hearing on Friday, Pruet denied a motion made by District Attorney Hays Webb, which called for only testimony relating to Miles's state of mind at the time of the shooting to be admitted during the immunity hearing.

Separately, Pruet took under advisement a motion filed by the Turner Law Group, the firm representing Miles, which calls for the suppression of comments made by Miles to investigators prior to being read his Miranda rights.

Defense attorney Grace Prince said that Judge Pruet indicated that a suppression hearing was not likely to be set until after the first of the year.

This was found to be relevant on Friday when Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit investigator Jeffrey Miller said that Miles failed to provide a consistent story during six hours of interrogation in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.

During the hearing, one witness who had been subpoenaed to testify — Jack Thompson — was called to the stand but did not show up to court. The Turner Law Group claims that it was Thompson who can be seen getting something out of the trunk of a stolen red Impala driven by Shu'Bonte Greene.

Defense attorney Mary Turner insists Thompson retrieved a shotgun that was later fired during the shootout on Grace Street. On surveillance video, the red Impala can be seen leaving a nearby parking lot and following the Jeep owned by Harris and driven by her boyfriend, Cedric Johnson.

Johnson was previously served a subpoena to testify but has yet to do so under oath, despite shooting Michael Lynn Davis twice during the fatal shootout.

District Attorney Hays Webb objected to Turner's comments about Thompson retrieving a shotgun and said there was no evidence to support such claims.

Daniel Hill, a senior crime analyst with the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office, was called to the stand by the defense and explained how he retrieved text messages between former Crimson Tide basketball player Brandon Miller and Miles in the minutes prior to the shooting.

This is crucial because of the timestamp. Indeed, in a self-defense case being tried in a "Stand Your Ground" state like Alabama, much rests on proving who felt threatened first. Experts have argued that it's not as simple as who shot first.

Attorneys for Miles have also pointed to the fact that the initial text message to Miller from Miles was the first documented instance of someone from either of the two groups involved expressing feeling threatened.

Above all else, the Turner Law Group previously explained that Miles must prove six things in order to legally claim self-defense:

1. He reasonably feared deadly force being used.
2. He was not engaged in unlawful activity.
3. He was in a place where he had the right to be.
4. He did not provoke the use of unlawful physical force by such other person.
5. He was not the initial aggressor.
6. He was not engaged in combat by agreement

Still, Hill read aloud the now widely-published text message sent from Miles to Miller, " I need my joint a n---- rl just got da fakin,"Miles texted to Miller, before texting him two minutes later "Bett we at [Jaden Bradley's] car."

"rl or RL" is slang for "real life," while Urban Dictionary defines "fakin" or "pumpfaking" as:

"when you pretend to have a weapon, normally a gun, around your waistband. Sticking your hand on your waist pretending to hold the grip of the weapon. Normally used to threaten others around them or using it to scare someone that doesn’t know if they’ve got a gun or not."

Webb insisted that Hill, a White police officer, was put in the awkward position of having to read the racial slur aloud, placing the blame on Miles for not only his actions but his language. This was after Hill, while being questioned by Grace Prince of the Turner Law Group, asked if he could avoid saying the word aloud — a request that was granted.

Later on in the hearing, investigator Jeffrey Miller was called to the stand and confirmed that Miles, during questioning, told him at least three times that he saw a gun passed in the black Jeep when the two groups interacted on Grace Street in the brief altercation that ultimately prompted the shooting.

Miller was treated as a hostile witness during his testimony and said he only spoke with Miles and his girlfriend, who was involved in an unrelated physical altercation with a large group of young women nearby at CVS in the minutes immediately prior to the shooting. This is allegedly the reason that Miles and other Crimson Tide basketball players, were in the area of Grace Street.

Other than some videos being entered into the record for the first time, much of what Miller was asked about focused on the moments immediately before the shooting and most was a rehashing of the widely reported second-by-second account of the Jan. 15 shooting.

During his testimony, Miller did concede that Cedric Johnson can be seen favoring his right hip, as if concealing a handgun, before getting behind the wheel of the Jeep.

The audio of Brandon Miller's dash cam was also played for the court for the first time, which allegedly features Miles telling Davis where the gun is and confirming that it is loaded.

Miles's family has said in the past that he began carrying a gun after having a gun pulled on him after moving to Alabama to play basketball for the Crimson Tide.

Webb cross-examined Miller and delivered passionate rebuttals to many claims made by Miles and the defense.

Indeed, Webb pointed out that Davis, who was wearing a hoodie with the distinct phrase "I Love Sluts" on the back, put on a camouflage jacket and a non-medical mask in the moments before he retrieved the handgun given to him by Miles.

"This is not some medical mask," Webb shouted.

Webb then called into question the credibility of Miles after investigators said his story was inconsistent in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. It's worth noting that the initial statements given to police by Miles have not been publicly released or read into the official record.

After Miller stepped down from the stand, Turner once again called Jack Thompson to the stand, but ultimately rested after it was apparent that he was not in attendance.

The District Attorney's Office also rested following Miller's testimony.

No timetable has been given as to when Judge Pruet will issue his written order for the immunity hearing.

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