COLUMN: Darius Miles Self-Defense Hearing | An Epilogue

*This is an opinion column*

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office senior crime analyst Daniel Hill squirmed a bit on the witness stand and the request quickly made his face begin to turn an embarrassed shade of red.

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Even the faces of some in the audience began to twist up.

Under cross-examination by District Attorney Hays Webb on Friday, Hill was asked to once again read aloud a text message sent from former Alabama basketball player and capital murder suspect Darius Miles to former Tide standout and current Charlotte Hornet Brandon Miller.

Never mind that Hill, a White police officer, had been called to the stand by the Turner Law Group, the defense firm representing Miles, and was given permission to skip over saying the racial slur in the exchange as he explained the technological nuances of a cell phone data dump.

It stands out as only the latest minor instance of courtroom theatrics in the case but seems to lend insight into the stakes of the proceedings.

And it's where we find ourselves at present.

Spinning Wheels

Webb, seemingly looking for an opportunity to shed light on the character of Miles by underscoring his words, insisted that the former Crimson Tide forward and his defense attorneys had put Hill in the situation of having to say the N-word out loud in front of a courtroom with two predominately Black families in attendance. This courtroom soliloquy by Webb came and went without objection from the defense table, but the silence left lingering in the chamber was difficult to ignore.

And sure, technically the argument can be made that Webb might have done this to protect the integrity of the text message evidence by ensuring every single word was read into the court transcript during the pre-trial immunity hearing.

Indeed, the Rule of Completeness — an evidentiary rule that aims to promote fairness by precluding unfair omissions, according to the definition provided by the U.S. Court of Appeals — could in theory allow for Webb to turn around and demand the entire text message be thrown out if one word is omitted at the request of the defense.

With this in mind, such an unlikely hypothetical could pose serious problems for the defense if it came to fruition, with the Turner Law Group likely to lean on the text message in question as a primary piece of evidence to prove Miles was the first person to fear for their safety on the morning of Jan. 15 when he sent the message at 1:38 a.m. ... roughly seven minutes before the first shot was fired.

It's also a notion coupled with the words of Violent Crimes Unit Investigator Jeffrey Miller, who testified on Friday that Miles told him on at least three different occasions that he saw a gun passed in the black Jeep occupied by Harris, Johnson and Asia Humphrey.

Nevertheless, these claims were largely glossed over and Miller focused more on the lack of consistency in the stories offered by Miles. In terms of evidence, a great deal of emphasis has been placed on what Miles told or didn't tell investigators in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.

And when these accusations are folded in with other evidence against Miles — namely the fact it was his gun that was used by Davis in the shooting and the contents of the text message asking for his gun — the primary evidence against Miles comes into clearer focus.

However, as previously stated, the text had already been offered into evidence and admitted without objection, so it becomes something of a moot point, full of sound and fury and signifying nothing. Even to most novice observers, including your narrator, the aforementioned exercise to make a public servant utter a racial epithet accomplished little and served only to undermine any sincerity on the part of the prosecution, which seemed to have gained some ground on Friday.

At least from where this reporter sat, all it did was embarrass a public servant called to testify to the basic nuances of a piece of evidence while, at the same time, undercutting the passionate and quite coherent words of Webb that followed.

Few would argue, too, that Friday stood out as Webb's most forceful and eloquent performance during this case to date. To use a sports term, this could very well represent a possible momentum shift as the district attorney truly broke his silence for the first time in open court and subsequently provided a new piece of crucial evidence.

Loose Ends And Absences

For the first time in open court, Webb on Friday passionately told those in attendance that Michael Lynn Davis, who allegedly used the handgun owned by Miles in the shooting, changed into a camouflage coat and non-medical mask in the moments immediately prior to the shooting.

This was no small revelation.

Instead, it stood out as a crucial piece of new evidence amid meandering and, at times, convoluted arguments relating to the layout of the area of the shooting and the questionable decision by Johnson to drive the Jeep down Grace Street instead of taking an available outlet to leave the area before the fatal interaction that left Harris dead and Davis wounded.

These arguments were complex and difficult for those in attendance to follow, apart from Investigator Miller saying he was unaware of the outlet from Grace Street mentioned on Friday until he was informed of it by Miles and later confirmed it for himself.

But what did stick out in the minds of those in attendance was Davis's decision to change clothes and don a non-medical mask just prior to the shooting.

Defense attorneys for Miles argued on Friday that Davis put on the camouflage jacket because of the cold that morning, with temperatures in the low 30s. Still, there has been no explanation provided for why Davis put on a mask.

Webb declined to expound further on the new evidence on Friday but, in doing so, did show that state prosecutors could very well have more evidentiary ammunition at their disposal than initially thought.

Yes, Friday stood out as an odd chapter in the capital murder proceedings following the Jan. 15 shooting death of Jamea Harris. Amid the reams of evidence, hours of surveillance video, and countless outside murmurs over the involvement of other parties that fateful morning, the death of Harris has seemingly taken a back seat to the legal minutia at this point in the case.

In fact, as far as this reporter could tell, her name was not mentioned once by the defense or prosecution on Friday during yet another hearing lasting almost four hours. During this hearing, more time seemed to be spent by both sides conferring with Judge Pruet at the bench and away from earshot of those in attendance.

After both sides had been called to approach the bench more than half a dozen times, heavy sighs from the family members in attendance split the silence of the courtroom as the two groups of attorneys once again got up from their seats to speak with the judge.

It's also worth pointing out that the once-packed courtroom has seen its attendance numbers diminish with each new hearing in the case. Whereas the scrum of reporters from all mediums seemed to rival the numbers of grieving family members in attendance early on in the case, the press corps for the case at present has been reduced to a small and familiar menagerie of local reporters — largely outnumbered in the courtroom now by two sets of families unwavering in their demands for justice.

As was expected, gone now are the ESPNs, the statewide pundits with frothing agendas, and the parachuting national journalists who often swoop in to stir the pot, only to leave the place worse than they found it.

No, those personalities are largely absent 258 days after Miles and Davis were led down the steps at the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit for the cameras of the small group of local reporters who continue to follow every development of the story.

Also absent once again were the other individuals on the other side of the shooting, namely Harris' boyfriend Cedric Johnson — who shot Davis twice during the fatal shootout — and his friends Shu'Bonte Greene and Jack Thompson.

While Greene did testify as a hostile witness during the pre-trial immunity hearing in August, Thompson was also served a subpoena by the Turner Law Group, but did not appear in court to testify on Friday.

As Patch previously reported, the defense for Miles says that Thompson and KeeVon Johnson were direct witnesses to the shooting and were occupants of a stolen red Chevrolet Impala driven by Greene who met with Johnson, Harris and Humphrey at an apartment complex off of Grace Street in the minutes immediately prior to the shots being fired.

KeeVon Johnson died in March at the age of 26.

Cedric Johnson, despite being previously served to testify in a prior hearing, has yet to be located and served a subpoena to take the witness stand during the pre-trial immunity hearing.

At no point in the investigation has Johnson been named as a suspect or charged with any crime, nor was Johnson or Humphrey issued a possession of marijuana citation for the marijuana recovered from the Jeep following the shooting.

It's worth noting that marijuana has not been fully decriminalized in the City of Tuscaloosa, but the law does, at the bare minimum, require TPD officers to issue written citations similar to a traffic ticket if a misdemeanor amount of marijuana is recovered during a traffic stop.

Nevertheless, the noticeable absence of Cedric Johnson has been a consistent talking point for the Turner Law Group, but remains an unresolved issue at this point in the case — especially considering Johnson shot Davis twice during the altercation, said very little to investigators and has yet to utter a word under oath.

This, alone, should be quite telling in a self-defense case that requires proof of one side feeling threatened to the point that deadly force was warranted, especially considering the difficulties reportedly had by the District Attorney's office in locating and serving Johnson with a subpoena for the pre-trial immunity hearing.

And never mind that no questions have been raised publicly by the prosecution or investigators regarding Johnson's role that morning, even as it relates to acting in self-defense.

Analysis

As Circuit Court Judge Daniel Pruet considers the evidence before issuing his written order in the pre-trial immunity hearing, I'll leave you with a quick analysis of what the defense has to prove in order to make a strong case that Darius Miles acted in self-defense when he provided his handgun to Michael Lynn Davis.

ALSO READ: Bama Basketball Shooting: Understanding State's Self-Defense Laws

It's a set of criteria that the Turner Law Group and other defense attorneys have cited in similar cases, so let's take them one by one:

1. Miles reasonably feared deadly force being used: as previously noted with available evidence, the first documented instance of any party involved expressing concern for their safety was Miles messaging Miller to bring him his "joint" or gun because the other group was "fakin" — a term that was not defined in open court on Friday and one that can be confusing to those who are ignorant of lingo used by young people.

As defined on the popular website Urban Dictionary,"fakin" or "pumpfaking" occurs:

"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."

2. Miles was in a place where he had the right to be: It has been noted numerous times by the defense that Miles and other Alabama basketball players such as Brandon Miller and Jaden Bradley, were on Grace Street after breaking up an unrelated fight involving Miles's girlfriend and a large group of young women. At no point in video evidence viewed independently by Tuscaloosa Patch did Miles or Davis appear to be aggressors in this altercation and can be seen on video working to break up the fight.

3. Miles did not provoke the use of unlawful physical force by such other person: Patch has reported at length that the initial verbal altercation that occurred on The Strip in the minutes prior to the shooting was between Davis and Johnson. While the facts of what was said during that interaction are unclear, former Tide basketball player Jaden Bradley told investigators that Miles attempted to de-escalate the situation and get his friend to leave the area. It was at this point that Miles told investigators he saw a gun passed from the front seat to Johnson sitting in the back of the Jeep at the time.

4. Miles was not the initial aggressor: All available evidence shows that when the shots were fired that resulted in the death of Jamea Harris and injuries to Michael Lynn Davis, Miles and his girlfriend were not in the area. Prosecutors have argued that Miles intentionally guided his girlfriend away from the eventual scene of the shooting — a notion flatly refuted by the young woman.

Also, at no point in the available evidence admitted thus far in the case have there been any communications showing that Miles had any intention of harming anyone the morning of Jan. 15.

5. Miles did not provoke the use of unlawful physical force by such other person: This is where the arguments over Johnson's decision to drive the Jeep down Grace Street come into play. Despite the prior interaction on The Strip, Miles, Bradley and Davis quickly left the area and almost immediately were involved in breaking up the unrelated fight near CVS — all of which was captured on surveillance camera footage.

While the argument could technically be made that Miles provoked the use of deadly force by giving his legally owned handgun to Davis, no other conclusive evidence suggests that his actions led to the death of Jamea Harris. Keep in mind, Alabama is a "Stand Your Ground" state where less emphasis is placed on who shot first in favor of focusing on whose actions were justified in the use of deadly force.

Indeed, the Alabama legislature passed a new law that went into effect just two weeks and a day prior to the shooting that dropped the state's pistol permit requirement for the concealed carry of a handgun — meaning that both guns used in the shooting by Davis and Johnson were legal until they were used in a shootout if neither man was legally barred from possessing a firearm.

6. Miles was not engaged in combat by agreement: This is arguably the easiest point for the defense to prove, given that both sides have conceded that Miles did not even know the names of the occupants of the Jeep at the time of shooting. Simply put, there was no agreement made at any point that the two groups would shoot it out.

Despite the two groups both patronizing Club Twelve25 on The Strip in the hours prior to the shooting, no evidence has been presented that the two groups had any kind of verbal interaction until the run-in on The Strip just minutes before the shooting.

Final Thoughts

As the cliché goes, time will ultimately tell with this high-profile murder case. Indeed, years may pass before the resolution of a fatal event that took a grand total of seven minutes to develop from start to finish.

As a final thought, this reporter would caution against unrealistic expectations at this point in the proceedings, primarily because there are so many questions left unanswered.

What exactly was said during that verbal altercation on The Strip?

Why did Cedric Johnson make the decision to drive down Grace Street instead of taking an available outlet to leave the scene?

Who truly felt threatened to the point that deadly force was needed to defend themselves?

These are just a few of the lingering questions that are likely being considered right now by Circuit Court Judge Daniel Pruet — a profoundly fair judge with an unimpeachable reputation who has experience both as a prosecutor and as a defense attorney.

But it's this fairness and pragmatism that will likely see Judge Pruet decline to grant immunity to Miles in favor of letting the matter be decided at a jury trial.

There will be few who will argue this approach, especially those mourning the loss of Jamea Harris, but questions are sure to remain until Cedric Johnson testifies under oath.

With this case just a few months out from its one-year mark, the hair-pulling and heavy sighs uttered by those in the courtroom are sure to continue.

Indeed, to quote the late Karen Carpenter, we may have only just begun.

Ryan Phillips is an award-winning journalist, editor and opinion columnist. He is also the founder and field editor of Tuscaloosa Patch. The views expressed in this column are his own and in no way a reflection of our parent company or sponsors.