Court Transcripts Bring Self-Defense Case For Darius Miles Into Clearer Focus

TUSCALOOSA, AL — The legal system is far from what you see on television.

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Slow to move but quick to stall, the complicated nature of courtroom proceedings for, let's say, a capital murder case, becomes apparent for reporters who are prohibited from recording dialogue and left with no other option but an old-school notebook and the senses at our disposal.

Over multiple days, with hearings lasting hours, plenty of important information gets overlooked.

And this has been no exception for the ongoing capital murder case of former Alabama basketball player Darius Miles, who stands accused of giving his childhood friend, Michael Lynn Davis, his legally owned handgun the morning of Jan. 15 that was eventually used in a shooting near The Strip that left 23-year-old Birmingham mother Jamea Harris dead.

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

As Patch previously reported, both sides rested in the hearing on Sept. 29 to determine if Miles is immune from prosecution. Alabama, after all, is a "Stand Your Ground" state, where someone acting in self-defense has more legal latitude as it relates to using deadly force if one feels threatened.

The Turner Law Group, the firm representing Miles, on Wednesday, filed its post-immunity hearing brief laying out the case for his innocence. District Attorney Hays Webb, whose office is prosecuting the case, has until Oct. 25 to file a response if he chooses to.

Tuscaloosa Patch was in attendance for each of the immunity hearing dates. But with the benefit of valuable court transcripts, the latest court filings and extensive reporting, we have constructed a thorough breakdown of the current status of the case, along with filling in gaps that were easily overlooked over the last month of hearings.

As a quick side note following a preliminary hearing in the Tuscaloosa County Jail in February, the capital murder cases against Miles and Davis are being tried separately.

This is an important distinction to point out, after little was known publicly about the details of the shooting until weeks after, upon the revelation that Davis was involved in a shootout with Cedric Johnson — the boyfriend of Harris who was driving her black Jeep Wrangler on Grace Street the morning of Jan. 15.

Video evidence independently viewed by Patch appears to show Davis running up to the Jeep after it made a U-turn and pulled in with its headlights off behind the Alabama basketball player Jaden Bradley's parked car, which was parked behind the car owned by former Alabama standout and No. 2 overall pick to the Charlotte Hornets, Brandon Miller.

At 1:45 a.m. — roughly seven minutes after the two groups had a short verbal altercation on The Strip — gunshots rang out.

Harris, sitting in the front passenger seat of the Jeep, was struck in the head and killed instantly, while Davis was shot twice during the gun battle. As Johnson left the scene and found a University of Alabama Police officer at the Walk of Champions, Davis was picked up by Miles and his girlfriend, Skylar Essex, who had not been present when the shooting broke out.

Miles then called 911 from University Downs to report his friend had been shot and was reportedly unaware that anyone else had been injured or killed.

Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court records show Davis was denied youth offender status in July and is set to have his pre-trial immunity hearing on Dec. 12. Davis's attorney, Birmingham's John Robbins, declined to comment at this time when contacted by Tuscaloosa Patch.

Following the conclusion of his hearing, though, Miles is left playing the waiting game and has been in the Tuscaloosa County Jail for almost 272 days.

After a relatively quiet summer following the preliminary hearing that saw Miles and Davis denied bond in February, it would be the former Tide forward given the first chance to argue for self-defense.

AUGUST

The pre-trial immunity hearing opened the morning of Aug. 21 in a sweltering courtroom as renovations moved forward in the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse and temperatures outside soared above 90 degrees well before noon.

Indeed, even Circuit Court Judge Daniel Pruet is on record multiple times expressing his frustrations with the heat as he urged expediency for the sake of everyone sweating in the courtroom.

Six witnesses were called by the defense to testify on the first day of the hearing, beginning with Jay Jarrett, the owner of Twelve25.

As Patch previously reported, the popular club is located on The Strip and saw both groups involved in the Jan. 15 shooting visit the establishment following Alabama basketball's blowout win over LSU in Coleman Coliseum hours earlier.

Under oath, Jarrett explained that the business has a strict "zero tolerance" policy for weapons and has different security measures in place to ensure the safety of its patrons.

Among these measures is an enforced "pat-down" policy for male patrons, who are searched for firearms or weapons before being allowed to enter the club during its bar hours. He also said the club has a metal detector and incorporates metal-detecting wands to search patrons.

Jarrett went on to say that it was "Ladies Night" the evening of Jan. 14 and then said he had known Miles for roughly three years

"Every interaction I've had with Darius has been very respectful," he said when asked by defense attorney Grace Prince about his relationship with her client.

Jarrett said he spoke with Miles in the hours before the shooting and said Miles had requested an order of lemon pepper chicken wings to go.

In video evidence viewed by Tuscaloosa Patch and presented in court prior to the pre-trial immunity hearing, Miles can be seen carrying a to-go box as he, Michael Davis and Alabama basketball player Jaden Bradley leave Twelve25 for the night.

With respect to the arguments over the hours of video evidence from multiple businesses, Jarrett said he was asked for the video by Violent Crimes Unit investigators the Monday following the shooting — more than 24 hours after Miles and Davis were charged with capital murder.

He also reiterated that at no point in the hours prior to the shooting did the two groups involved have any interaction inside his establishment.

After Jarrett stepped down from the stand, talk moved to a topic that would be an ongoing theme throughout a month of proceedings — the defense's access to evidence.

Tuscaloosa Patch has reported extensively on these arguments and won't bore you, the reader, with the legalese and minutia, but here's our past coverage if you're interested:

• Motion Filed To Suppress Statements Made By Miles After Shooting
• Prosecutors Move To Exclude Testimony In Darius Miles Immunity Hearing

Much of the testimony from Jarrett was in response to questions about his business's security cameras, which was benign in the substance provided. This proved similar to the testimony offered by Jon Alford, owner of The Houndstooth, when he was called to the stand by the Turner Law Group.

Indeed, these were largely qualifying testimonies to underscore the quality of the evidence entered into the record by the defense and little was discussed relating to specific details from the morning of Jan. 15

This necessary, table-setting chapter of the case is a part of the legal system they don't portray in popular culture with actors and courtroom theatrics. It takes up dozens of pages of courtroom transcripts over multiple days and filings that yield little for the public as it relates to the events of those seven minutes that resulted in a young mother losing her life.

The third witness to take the stand on Aug. 21 was Tuscaloosa Police Department Cyber Crimes Unit Sgt. Richard Wilkins, who described how he extracted data from three cell phones recovered by the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit.

These phones belonged to Jamea Harris, her boyfriend Cedric Johnson, and passenger Asia Humphrey.

It's worth noting that, according to Wilkins, the phones were not subjected to standard data extraction methods until they were submitted on May 25 — the day after bond was denied for Miles by Judge Daniel Pruet.

Tuscaloosa County E911 supervisor Cori Poe briefly took the stand to discuss one of the initial 911 calls, which was played for those in attendance.

The caller, whom Tuscaloosa Patch has chosen to not identify by name, described one of the individuals involved in the shootout. Attempts by Tuscaloosa Patch to contact the individual have not received a response as of the publication of this story.

Still, in a recording played in court during the August hearing, the panicked caller described a man in a flannel shirt participating in the shooting. Indeed, this seems to support defense attorney Mary Turner's argument that a shotgun was retrieved from the trunk of the aforementioned red Impala driven by Shu'Bonte Greene and fired during the shooting by his friend, Jack Thompson.

This position, however, has been one that District Attorney Hays Webb has argued vehemently against, saying that the Turner Law Group has failed to provide any evidence to validate that a "pump shotgun" was fired at some point during the shooting that killed Harris.

Poe's testimony was followed by a technical and unyielding series of answers from Lt. Daniel Pate, who heads the Criminal Investigative Division at the University of Alabama Police Department — a position that serves as the custodian of all body camera footage gathered by UAPD officers.

Defense attorney Grace Prince said this testimony was crucial as it relates to one officer's body camera footage during an interview with two witnesses near the Walk of Champions — Jack Thompson and KeeVon Johnson — along University Boulevard in front of Bryant-Denny Stadium.

This dialogue was played in court after being captured on a UAPD body camera just feet away from where Cedric Johnson parked Jamea Harris's Jeep after spotting a UAPD officer. It's also worth noting that KeeVon Johnson died in March at the age of 26.

Editor's note: It is unclear at times which of the two men is talking to the officer, so Tuscaloosa Patch has opted to use both names ahead of their quotes. Some of the dialogue has also been cut or condensed for the sake of brevity.

Greene/KeeVon Johnson: "They don’t know who they f***** with. They don’t even know they f***** with me. That’s the point. They just don’t know (unintelligible)."

Greene/KeeVon Johnson: "We ain’t going home."

Greene/KeeVon Johnson:" We ain’t going home. That man’s [Davis] probably dead."

Greene/KeeVon Johnson: "Tell Tuscaloosa or Birmingham."

UAPD Officer: "No. That, that don’t, that don’t solve anything. That’s not gonna solve anything."

Greene/KeeVon Johnson: "We from Birmingham. They don’t know who they just played with."

UAPD Officer: "That don’t solve anything."

Greene/KeeVon Johnson: "Oh, we’re gonna solve something."

UAPD Officer: "And then what? Y’all go to prison? And then it be a repeat cycle? What we doing different?"

Greene/KeeVon Johnson: "Ain’t nothing to do different."

UAPD Officer: "Yes, there is. There’s plenty to do different."

After speaking to a passerby, the tone of the conversation turns emotional and vengeful, as the two men appear to be aware that Harris was shot and killed, in addition to Davis also being shot.

Greene/KeeVon Johnson: "Oh, we ain’t leaving Tuscaloosa."

Greene/KeeVon Johnson: "F*** that. That n**** has to be dead, he better be killing himself. That’s what he gotta be doing. We is not your average Birmingham n****, we don’t give a f*** about the feds, the police, the, the mother f****** Navy; won’t care about 30 years in jail or none of that."

UAPD Officer: "Navy? "

Greene/KeeVon Johnson: "We do not give no f**** about nothing. Period. I promise to God ... How the f*** you just shoot somebody? N**** ain’t do - I know ain’t nobody did nothing to this man [Cedric Johnson]. What the f*** you just shoot her for? I know a n**** didn’t do nothing to you. Ain’t no way that mother****** gonna say something to me that make me wanna shoot. Ain’t no way, ain’t no way you can make me that mad by your word to make me want to ... shoot you."

AUGUST (cont.)

The two crime scenes have also complicated matters in terms of evidence, presenting numerous arguments extending past the circumstances of the shooting, while leaving unanswered questions relating to evidence recovered from the Jeep.

Indeed, investigators recovered an undisclosed amount of marijuana from the Jeep, along with a loaded magazine for another gun that was never located. This is validated by the fact that Cedric Johnson wielded a revolver in the shooting — evidence supported by the fact that none of his shell casings were recovered at the scene or in the Jeep, due to the fact that a revolver does not eject spent carriages.

Cody Bindley, an assistant store manager at Publix on University Boulevard, was then called to the stand during the August hearing and, again, explained at length the nuances of the store's security surveillance equipment. Despite being cross-examined by Assistant District Attorney Corey Seale, the testimony provided little apart from contextualizing small details about the store's security cameras.

Even for a seasoned reporter who has followed this story from the first seconds they led Miles and Davis down the steps for their "perp walks" at the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office, it was difficult to follow along in a courtroom that felt like a greenhouse.

Sleepy eyes popped open, however, when the defense called Tuscaloosa Police Chief Brent Blankley to the stand — a decision that prompted a sidebar discussion at the bench with Judge Pruet well out of earshot of the packed courtroom but documented in the court transcript.

"He has knowledge of the things that are going on in the City of Tuscaloosa and he doesn't have to be there," defense attorney Mary Turner told Judge Pruet at the bench, according to the recorded court transcript. "And he has knowledge of things that are going on in Tuscaloosa and the crowds that come down here from other counties causing problems."

Regardless of courtroom procedure or relevancy, Turner is correct to cite Blankley as a reputable source for discussing pervasive issues that result from the high influx of non-residents during busy weekends in Tuscaloosa — like the Jan. 14 home game for the Crimson Tide against LSU that saw thousands inundate The Strip following the Crimson Tide victory earlier in the day.

Blankley, on more than one occasion during his tenure as police chief, has publicly stated that Tuscaloosa has become "the spot" for those in surrounding counties looking for something to do.

By no fault other than progress, Blankley has said Tuscaloosa has become an attractive hub during busy weekends for certain criminal elements, which is validated by crime statistics highlighting the recovery of stolen or illegal firearms from out-of-town individuals coming to Tuscaloosa for a good time.

Indeed, think back to Jan. 12, 2021, when thousands inundated The Strip after Alabama won the national championship. An unruly sea of humanity as far as the eye could see.

Then, the subsequent A-Day Game that April resulted in a similar scene and multiple arrests — mostly folks from just outside of Tuscaloosa County who came to town to have a good time. All told, six guns were recovered by police that night, including a pistol modeled after an AK-47 assault rifle.

"This was a question and answer session he had with a newspaper," Turner told Judge Pruet during the sidebar discussion at the bench concerning Blankley's potential testimony. "And he stated that now with the City of Tuscaloosa, people are coming from different places, including Bessemer and Birmingham, which is where gang members Cedric Johnson and Shu'Bonte Greene are from. They are coming down here and they are causing issues and they are firing guns. We would be offering to show this as that Mr. Johnson and Shu'Bonte Greene and the other guys in the car were the initial aggressors."

Pruet ultimately excused Blankley from testifying and sharply responded as the defense asked about recalling the police chief for future testimony.

"The state has taken [the death penalty] off the table ... which significantly in this court's view alters the posture of the case," Pruet said. "It is still a capital murder case and I am still going to in a hearing like this give the defense more latitude than the state probably thinks in regard to relevance and materiality. Nonetheless, relevance and materiality are important and I know we are laying predicates. We've been here for two hours and 10 minutes and [I've] yet to hear any testimony in regard to what happened that night."

After Blankley left the courtroom, Turner called Shu'Bonte Greene to the stand, before quickly explaining that he had been served a subpoena to testify but had not yet appeared in court. This resulted in Judge Pruet granting a writ of attachment for Greene, ahead of Cedric Johnson being called to the stand by Turner.

As Patch previously reported, Cedric Johnson's only appearance in a courtroom for the capital murder case for Jamea Harris was in May, when he attended a bond hearing for Miles wearing a necklace with a picture of Harris and their son.

While sitting in a folding chair in the second row of the courtroom during the hearing, Turner called his name, to which he responded with a raised hand and was swiftly served a subpoena to testify by a private investigator for the Turner Law Group.

Johnson was not required to testify that day and said nothing, sitting stoically throughout the proceedings, before quietly leaving the courthouse with a group of supporters and the family of Jamea Harris.

"The investigation is one-sided," the family of Darius Miles told Tuscaloosa Patch in a statement this week. "They based their entire investigation off of Cedric’s statement. It was all about who got to the police first."

ALSO READ: 'Keeping Hope Alive': Family Of Darius Miles Offers Perspective

Despite his presence at the bond hearing, Johnson was absent when called to testify during the first day of proceedings for Darius Miles's immunity hearing in August. This has been a widely discussed point of contention, with the Turner Law Group providing numerous examples of failed attempts to serve Johnson a subpoena.

"We attempted to serve him numerous subpoenas numerous times," Turner told the court. "I actually emailed the state of Alabama requesting another address ... specifically [Assistant District Attorney] Corey Seale who became involved in the case."

Turner said that Seale confirmed she had not spoken with Johnson, who had avoided being served a subpoena, only to show up to court in response to a widely publicized subpoena served to Johnson in May by the District Attorney's Office well ahead of the bond hearing.

"However, the state did not provide us an address to serve him," Turner argued in August. "We have addresses that he provided to law enforcement. And those addresses were good addresses. And I have [the firm's private investigator] here who attempted to serve him and they would not come to the door. So I do not have service on Mr. Johnson. However, the state would not provide me any way to get up with him and stated that they had not talked to him or this particular DA did."

Following debate regarding the fact that he was in the courtroom for much of the other testimony, Turner called private investigator David Hill, owner of Alabama Investigative Services, to the stand. In addition to his efforts trying to serve Cedric Johnson, Hill said under oath that he had three other investigators also working to track down the young man.

Hill testified that he tried to serve Johnson at three different Birmingham area addresses, including the first address, which Johnson reportedly provided to the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit following the Jan. 15 shooting.

"The first time that we made contact with someone at the house, they said that they didn't know him and that he didn't live there," Hill said, referring to Johnson's mother. "I had one investigator out of Birmingham spent over 12 hours staking out his house trying to catch him coming or going. I had two other investigators that had made attempts at two different addresses plus myself, and I know I've probably put at least 10 hours in traveling to Birmingham and back."

The first day of proceedings ended without much in the way of new details and Judge Pruet continued the hearing to the following morning.

The next day started with Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit investigator Jeffrey Miller, who later testified as a witness, working to track down Shu'Bonte Greene to get him a ride from the Birmingham area to testify in court.

Greene ultimately arrived in Tuscaloosa, but proved a somewhat uncooperative and hostile witness who did little to clear the air regarding the circumstances of Jan. 15.

Greene explained that he has known Cedric Johnson for approximately 14 years and considers him family, but went on to say he did not know Jack Thompson very well.

Defense attorney Mary Turner then shifted the conversation to Greene and Johnson's alleged gang affiliations — most notably the West End Money Gang.

Greene admitted involvement with the street gang, before saying that he and Johnson had become disillusioned with the gang and quit.

When asked about the day leading up to the shooting, Greene said he met up with Johnson and Jamea Harris at a barbershop in Birmingham, before the group decided to make the trip to Tuscaloosa — a busy weekend in the city with the University of Alabama playing a home basketball game that Saturday against LSU.

After making a stop at Krispy Kreme, Greene said he, KeeVon Johnson and Jack Thompson then met up with Cedric Johnson, Jamea Harris and Asia Humphrey on The Strip.

Indeed, apart from Greene, at one point, allegedly confirming the details about the shotgun during a past interview with a private investigator for the Turner Law Group, no evidence has been presented that definitively proves that Thompson fired any shots during the deadly altercation.

Following both groups enjoying the evening at Twelve25, Johnson and his friends left at 12:55 a.m. before grabbing a bite to eat at Quick Grill on University Boulevard, while Miles is recorded leaving the club at 1:36 a.m. and carrying a to-go box of lemon pepper chicken wings.

Turner then asked Greene if Thompson had a shotgun in the red Impala the night of the shooting, but Greene denied this.

However, Turner attempted to contradict Greene's testimony by citing an interview of Greene conducted by private investigator David Hill while Greene was behind bars in a Jefferson County jail.

Greene's testimony on these details appeared inconsistent, as his story changed from not having a good memory to saying that if Thompson did bring a shotgun that night, Greene didn't know about it nor did he pop the trunk of the car so Thompson could retrieve the gun.

This where widely reported video evidence comes into play, with Greene's red Impala seen on security camera footage meeting with the black Jeep Wrangler driven by Johnson. Harris is in the front seat, while her cousin, Asia Humphrey, was in the back seat.

Humphrey is the only one from the aforementioned group to testify under oath and refused to corroborate accusations against those involved. Instead, she said she remembered very few details from that fateful morning.

Nevertheless, the vehicles driven by Johnson and Greene met in the parking lot of an apartment complex at 1:41 a.m. — four minutes before the shooting. Thompson is seen getting out of the Impala to retrieve something from the trunk, before the Impala pulls out of the apartment parking lot to follow the black Jeep.

Less than five minutes later, Jamea Harris was dead and Michael Davis had been shot twice.

In the interim, though, Turner asked Greene about pulling out of the apartment complex parking lot and following the Jeep instead of driving on to University Boulevard and leaving the area.

Following the shooting, Greene and KeeVon Johnson made their way to the Walk of Champions, where Cedric Johnson had parked the black Jeep after spotting a UAPD officer. During this time, Greene testified that Thompson got into the Impala and drove it away from the scene.

The Impala, which reportedly belongs to Greene's mother, was reported stolen the next day and Greene was eventually arrested a couple of weeks later in connection with the stolen vehicle.

It's also worth noting that when asked by Turner if he had notified police of the two other men with him during the shooting, he said he did not, due to not thinking it was important enough to mention.

Before stepping down from the stand, Greene was shown a photo of Cedric Johnson with what appears to be the handle of a handgun sticking out of his waistband. However, Greene insisted he never saw Johnson with a gun during the evening and early morning hours before the shooting.

Judge Pruet adjourned the proceedings following Greene's testimony and scheduled the immunity hearing to continue with additional witness testimony on Sept. 29.

SEPTEMBER

Standing 6'7", Darius Miles slowly shuffled into the seventh-floor courtroom, hunched slightly due to his leg irons and handcuffs. His hair was cut noticeably shorter than in previous months and he was once again supported by a large contingency of family and friends.

As Patch previously reported, Judge 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, which called for the suppression of comments made by Miles to investigators prior to being read his Miranda rights.

Following the decisions by Pruet, Webb started the hearing in September by pointing out his office's view that no evidence had been provided up to that point that supported the argument of self-defense for Miles.

"The only thing we want to reiterate to this point in the testimony and based on the pleadings prior to this we are still completely unaware of what is the claim of self-defense," Webb told Pruet during the hearing.

Early on in the hearing, Turner once again called Jack Thompson to testify, but he was not present, despite being served a subpoena by the Turner Law Group.

Turner then took this opportunity to reiterate her claims that Thompson was armed with a shotgun that he fired toward The Strip during the gun battle.

Webb took particular issue with such claims, saying "[T]here have been many misstatements made or certainly things that shouldn't be out here announced that are issues in evidence that have not yet been established and which we believe absolutely will not be established."

Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office senior crime analyst Daniel Hill was called to testify by the Turner Law Group about extracting data from the cell phone of former Tide standout and current Charlotte Hornet Brandon Miller, who was in communication with Miles immediately prior to the shooting and had Miles's legally owned handgun in his Dodge Charger.

It's worth pointing out that, as of Jan. 1, Alabama no longer requires pistol permits for the concealed possession of a handgun.

Indeed, the message in question was sent from Miles to Miller at 1:38 p.m., immediately following the verbal altercation and just minutes prior to the shooting on Grace Street.

When reading the text message, the Turner Law Group allowed Hill to skip over saying a racial slur used in the message. However, when asked by Webb to once again read aloud the message, the district attorney insisted that Hill, a white police officer, say every single word.

The moment was an awkward one, with Webb seemingly using the language in the text as an indictment of Miles's character.

Still, Turner moved on and again mentioned the failed attempts to serve Cedric Johnson with a subpoena to testify, explaining that the Turner Law Group learned that Johnson goes to a "pick-up and drop-off" every Saturday to get his young son at the Ensley Police Department.

"We went up there on one Saturday — two Saturdays ago," Turner said during the hearing. "We got that information. We went to the Ensley Police Department and my process server had missed him by 15 minutes. The process server goes back next Saturday to serve him. And [an individual] had the little boy in the car and it appears that he had called [Johnson] and told him we were waiting on him and we didn't get service on him."

Turner provided the details in the hopes of securing a writ of attachment from Judge Pruet for Johnson, which was ultimately denied after the judge said he was not aware of a law that gave him the authority to issue a writ of attachment for an individual who has not been served a subpoena.

Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit investigator Jeffrey Miller was another witness called to the stand during the proceedings in September and spoke at length about interviewing Miles in the hours following the fatal shooting on Grace Street.

Miller said he agreed "100%" with the decision by the District Attorney's Office and Violent Crimes Unit investigator Branden Culpepper to charge Miles with capital murder and testified that Miles could not provide a consistent story when questioned.

Miller said his confidence in assigning guilt to Miles was due primarily to his assertion that Miles did not say he felt threatened before telling Michael Davis where his handgun was.

During the interrogation at the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit office, which lasted approximately six hours, Miller said Miles told him on three different occasions that he saw a gun passed from Harris sitting in the front seat of the Jeep to Johnson sitting in the back.

This occurred at approximately 1:37 a.m. during a brief verbal altercation off of University Boulevard supposedly between Davis and Johnson — less than 10 minutes prior to the shooting.

Miller was then questioned by Prince about Johnson's decision to turn right out onto University Boulevard from the Grace Street intersection where the Jeep had been parked as they got food from Quick Grill nearby.

However, Prince pointed out that instead of continuing down University Boulevard through downtown Tuscaloosa and onto the interstate back to Birmingham, the Jeep instead can be seen at 1:42 a.m. turning back on Grace Street.

As Patch previously reported, Miles, Davis and former Alabama basketball player Jaden Bradley can be seen on security camera footage breaking up an unrelated fight involving a large group of young women off of Grace Street near CVS.

Among the women involved in the scuffle was Miles's girlfriend, Skylar Essex. By all accounts, including Bradley's words to investigators, Miles worked to de-escalate both the verbal interaction on The Strip and the fight involving the large group of women.

With Investigator Miller still on the witness stand, Prince then asked him about an outlet from Grace Street that would have provided Johnson, driving Harris's Jeep, a route to easily leave the area and get back on the interstate for the drive back to Jefferson County.

Miller, however, said he was unaware of the outlet until Miles told him about it during his interrogation. He then agreed that, instead of taking the outlet, Johnson made a U-turn and proceeded back down Grace Street with the Jeep's headlights turned off.

"Yes. I didn't know [about the outlet]," Miller said in response to a question from defense attorney Grace Prince. "I actually argued with [Miles] about it. Learn something new every day."

Under cross-examination from District Attorney Hays Webb, talk turned to Michael Lynn Davis and his decisions in the moments leading up to the shooting that left Jamea Harris dead.

Indeed, Webb insisted that Davis, who was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt with the easily identifiable words "I Love Sluts" on the back, put on a camouflage jacket and donned a "non-medical" mask or gaiter scarf.

Webb pointed out that, at no point in the evening, could Davis be seen wearing the gaiter scarf other than in the moments prior of the shooting.

Clothing on the morning of Jan. 15 has been a crucial talking point with respect to evidence, ranging from being used to identify witnesses on video to the prosecution's early argument that video seemed to show Miles using the hood on his yellow jacket as a kind of signal for the shooting to commence.

Defense attorneys and Miles's family flatly deny such accusations, saying "he was doing that all night because the size and style prevents side vision."

Still, it's during this time that dash camera audio from Brandon Miller's car captured an exchange between Miles and Davis as they stood outside the vehicle on Grace Street after breaking up the fight near CVS. At this point, Miles had reportedly already spotted the black Jeep making its way down Grace Street, with defense attorneys arguing that his body language reflected immediate anxiety after seeing the gun passed to Johnson just minutes before.

Miles: "It’s right here in the hat, bro."

Davis: "Where?"

Miles: "It’s in this hat, bro."

Davis: "It’s in the hat? Is there one in the head?"

Miles: "Huh?"

Davis: "Is there one in the head?"

Miles: "You know it is. Right here, bro, in here."

Webb then skipped ahead to Miles being interrogated by investigators, asking Miller if Miles ever mentioned feeling threatened in the moments prior to the shooting.

"Fire. He's got fire in the hat," Webb said in a slight, seemingly unintentional misrepresentation of Miles's words. "We have got two different references at this point. He is referencing it as fire in the hat. Right? Previously he had told Brandon Miller to bring him his joint [or gun]; right?"

While Brandon Miller was never charged or even named as a possible suspect, the text message exchange between the rising NBA star and Miles on the morning of Jan. 15 has been a major talking point for both sides.

Indeed, prosecutors argue that the exchange shows that Miles intended for his .40 caliber handgun to be used in an act of violence, while defense attorneys insist that these messages provide the first documented example of any of the individuals involved feeling threatened.

"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."

It's unclear what, if anything, Brandon Miller said in response.

Still, this text immediately followed the verbal altercation on The Strip, where Miles claimed he saw Harris pass a handgun to Johnson sitting in the back seat of the Jeep.

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."

Still, the hearing in September saw Webb ask Investigator Miller about the stories provided by Miles during the six hours of interrogation. Under oath, Miller said Miles failed to provide a straight narrative and never said at any point that he felt afraid for his safety.

"I believe he said something along the lines of when he was — when Michael was shot, he was scared that Michael was going to die," Investigator Miller recalled.

The family of Darius Miles, in a statement provided this week to Tuscaloosa Patch, vehemently insisted that Miles feared for his safety when he texted Brandon Miller for his gun.

"He saw the gun passed from the victim to Cedric," the family said. "He told investigators this three times and it was ignored. [Investigator Branden] Culpepper, at the preliminary hearing, and Investigator Miller at the immunity hearing, both confirmed it could have been a gun and they see her turning around and passing something. Darius never touched the gun, he simply stated its location in a panic for protection once he saw the Jeep coming towards them. He never directed anyone to do anything, but [prosecutors] say he ‘provided’ the gun."

Miller also opined that the exit at the end of Grace Street looks like a dead end, especially at night, which he speculated could explain why the Jeep was in the area.

Immediately following the shooting, as Johnson flagged down a UAPD officer at the Walk of Champions after Harris was shot, it was Miles at 2:15 a.m. who called 911 from University Downs apartments to report his friend had been shot and that he didn't know how it happened.

It was then Miller who transported Miles from the apartment complex to the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit headquarters, where he reportedly sat in a hallway for two hours without handcuffs. Court documents obtained by Patch show that Miles was eventually read his Miranda rights at 8:14 a.m. the morning of Jan. 15.

Defense attorney Grace Prince, while questioning Miller, said the investigator told Miles not to lie to him and that "I don't want to figure out later this is wrong."

Miller disagreed, instead saying that "I don't believe I said it like that. I do remember saying that I was not convinced that he was not involved. I did say that."

This rounded out testimony for the hearing, with Turner making one final call in the courtroom for Jack Thompson to take the stand. However, she was met with only silence.

Instead of asking for a continuance in the pre-trial immunity hearing to allow for more time to track down Thompson, both sides ultimately rested and put the matter into the hands of Circuit Court Judge Daniel Pruet.

OCTOBER

In the most recent filing submitted this week by the Turner Law Group, defense attorneys provided a concise, yet detailed, look at the evidence they believe shows that Miles acted in self-defense when he provided Davis with his legally owned .40 caliber handgun.

Among the evidence mentioned was a video of Cedric Johnson at 8:46 p.m. on Jan. 14, which shows him with a gun on his right hip.

What's more, the Turner Law Group for the first time said that Brandon Miller’s dash camera video shows Miles’s realization that the previously armed gunman was approaching him and his friends with its lights off on Grace Street. Miles then reportedly points toward the Jeep and "walks noticeably faster than he had before."

Based on the evidence presented up to this point, the Turner Law Group insists that Miles was legally justified in asking for his gun and in telling Davis where his gun was so he could defend himself or others.

The Turner Law Group made this claim because they believe Miles was reasonable to believe that Johnson was about to use unlawful deadly physical force and that Johnson was about to commit assault in the first or second degree or robbery in any degree.

"The evidence is uncontroverted that Cedric Johnson was armed with a handgun and that
Darius Miles saw Harris pass a firearm to Johnson during the verbal altercation with Davis," the filing by the Turner Law Group states. "The state offered no witnesses and presented no testimony to dispute these facts. ... Additionally, corroborating evidence also proves that Miles saw Johnson arm himself with a firearm in the Jeep."

Three crucial points were then raised by the defense in its final arguments for self-defense.

1. It was noted during cross-examination of Investigator Miller that, after Miles saw the firearm passed to Johnson sitting in the back of the Jeep, Miles took the long way to reach the car in which he rode. In doing this, the defense says Miles intentionally avoided Grace Street and Johnson's eyesight, walking behind the Houndstooth sports bar and under a fence.
2. The Turner Law Group says Johnson being armed with a handgun is corroborated by video evidence of Johnson exiting the Jeep seconds after Miles walked away. He noticeably favors his right hip after exiting the Jeep, with the Turner Law Group alleging it was due to Johnson having a handgun in his waistband.
3. Defense attorneys argue that video of the actual shooting, which has been independently viewed by Tuscaloosa Patch, clearly shows Johnson firing from the Jeep.

Lastly, the defense addressed a new revelation provided by District Attorney Hays Webb, who spoke at length about Davis putting on a camouflage coat and gaiter scarf immediately prior to the shooting.

The Turner Law Group argues that this information is irrelevant to Miles’s state of mind at the time he texted Brandon Miller or at the time Miles told Davis where his firearm was located.

"The state is attempting to blur the line to make Davis’s actions the actions of Miles in a vain attempt to get this court to ignore the overwhelming evidence that Darius Miles was reasonably in fear of imminent deadly physical force ... at the hands of Cedric Johnson," the Turner Law Group wrote in the latest filing. "It was reasonable for Miles to fear that unlawful deadly physical force was imminent."

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.