Judge Denies Granting Immunity To Darius Miles In Capital Murder Case

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Tuscaloosa County Circuit Judge Daniel Pruet on Thursday denied granting immunity from prosecution to former Alabama basketball player Darius Miles, who is accused of capital murder in the Jan. 15 shooting death of 23-year-old Birmingham native Jamea Harris.

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As Patch previously reported, defense attorneys for Miles have insisted that he feared for his safety and that of others when he gave Michael Lynn Davis his legally owned handgun in the minutes prior to the Jan. 15 shootout on Grace Street.

In Thursday's filing, much of the evidence was summed up, providing concrete timetables for certain interactions, including the interaction between Davis and the occupants of Harris' Jeep Wrangler — namely her boyfriend, Cedric Johnson.

Pruet noted after reviewing evidence that Davis, on security camera video, appeared to be agitated during and after his interaction with the people in the Jeep, with former Alabama basketball player Jaden Bradley seen trying to get Davis to leave the area.

ALSO READ: Court Transcripts Bring Self-Defense Case For Darius Miles Into Focus

After being read his Miranda rights, Pruet said Miles told investigators on three different occasions that he saw a gun passed from Harris in the front passenger seat to Johnson sitting in the back of the Jeep.

However, Pruet pointed out that when speaking with investigators, Miles did not claim to have been scared or threatened, and he did not claim that anyone pointed the gun at him.

What's more, as Patch has previously reported, the judge underscored testimony from a Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit investigator that the interview with Miles lasted approximately six hours because he "wouldn't give us a straight story. It was all over the place. Every time you talked to him it was a different answer."

Indeed, Pruet went on to say that the court heard no testimony detailing what Miles saw that morning in the minutes prior to the shooting — only what was told to investigators.

Following the interaction on The Strip, Miles, Davis and Bradley could be seen on video walking north on Grace Street, before turning west as they walked behind the Houndstooth sports bar.

Pruet noted that during this time, Davis appeared to be agitated as the three men walked together, before mentioning no testimony was offered relating to what the three men said to each other as they walked down Grace Street.

The judge then mentioned the now-famous text message sent from Miles to the eventual No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft Brandon Miller. It was during this exchange that Miles is documented asking Miller to bring him his legally owned handgun, which had been left in Miller's car earlier in the evening following Alabama's win over LSU.

During this time, a separate interaction took place between Cedric Johnson and three friends on The Strip, before the group got into their vehicles and met again at a nearby apartment complex. This has been crucial to the claims by the Turner Law Group that the group of men was armed and were the actual aggressors in the incident.

ALSO READ: Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed Against Murder Suspects, Brandon Miller

However, Pruet said the court has not presented any evidence suggesting that Miles, Davis or any of the other men with them were aware of Johnson's interaction with his acquaintances in the minutes prior to the shooting.

A key piece of evidence presented by the defense also focused on an interaction between the two groups near an apartment dumpster in a parking lot. During this interaction, the Turner Law Group claims one individual can be seen retrieving a shotgun from the trunk of a red Chevy Impala that was allegedly fired during the shooting.

Pruet then said there was no testimony offered that clearly established what, if anything, the person put into or retrieved from the trunk.

Shubante Green, the man driving the Impala, testified under oath during the immunity hearing and admitted that he agreed with an investigator working for the Turner Law Group that the person retrieved a shotgun.

However, Green noted that "I just agreed because [the investigator] asked me."

Pruet also pointed to numerous instances during the hearing where Green denied having seen a shotgun or being aware of anyone having a shotgun.

In fast-forwarding to just before the shooting, Pruet notes that the Jeep and Impala turned north on Grace Street and there were a considerable number of pedestrians congregating in Grace Street between the Jeep's location and University Boulevard. During this time, as Patch has previously reported, a large fight involving a group of women broke out, with Miles seen on video working to get his girlfriend, Skylar Essex, away from the altercation.

Pruet then said that Davis walked in front of the Jeep as the Jeep was beginning to turn onto Grace Street and he stopped 10-15 yards farther to the south while the Jeep and Impala turned to the north.

While Pruet noted that Davis stood with his back to the Jeep at this time, he then said there was no testimony offered during the immunity hearing relating to if the occupants of the Jeep or Impala exchanged words or gestures as Davis walked directly in front of the Jeep.

It's at this point that Pruet mentions a crucial piece of evidence revealed during the immunity hearing — the fact that Davis put on another jacket and a gaiter scarf, described as a non-medical mask.

The filing then says approximately 15 seconds after the Jeep and Impala turned onto Grace Street, Miles and Bradley passed the two vehicles that kept driving very slowly as they passed each other.

Pruet writes that Bradley then parked his car in Grace Street's south-bound lane approximately one block north of University Boulevard and remained in the car, while Miles exited after they stopped.

At this time, Miller was turning onto Grace Street and also passed the Jeep and Impala, pulling in behind Bradley's car roughly 10 seconds after Miles got out of the vehicle.

With both vehicles still parked on Grace Street, Pruet said the Jeep and Impala traveled north on Grace Street for approximately two blocks before turning around. While the route is not clearly marked, Tuscaloosa Patch previously reported that there is an exit available separate from the route the Jeep took that morning.

ALSO READ:

Prosecutors Say Darius Miles Lacks Evidence To Prove Self-Defense

Roughly 20 seconds after exiting Bradley's car, the court acknowledges that Miles interacted with Davis. It was at this time that Davis retrieved Miles's gun from the back seat of Miller's car.

Following this exchange, Davis can be seen walking a short distance to the north, before turning west behind an apartment building.

During this time, Miles reportedly walked a short distance and appeared to "aggressively escort two female acquaintances as he walked."

Pruet mentioned that no testimony was provided regarding what was said during this interaction before Miles turned back toward Grace Street, leaving the young women.

The judge then pointed out that as the Jeep was pulling behind Miller's vehicle, Miles walked to Bradley's car and opened the passenger door. The filing notes that Miles then walked toward Miller's vehicle and appeared to say something through a window, before walking toward the Jeep and passing within arm's length of the passenger side of the vehicle as it approached Miller's car.

Pruet wrote that the Jeep and Impala slowed to almost a complete stop as they approached the back of Miller's car. However, he said neither vehicle appeared to have been put in park, with the Jeep's path forward "blocked" by Miller's car in the south-bound lane, along with being blocked in the other lane by another car and a pedestrian in the street.

Pruet then noted that as Miles passed the Jeep, Davis emerged from the corner of the apartment building he had gone behind approximately 42 seconds earlier. The judge also said when Davis emerged from behind the apartment building, he was walking but he sped up his pace and jogged between the Impala and the Jeep, raising his hand as he approached the driver's window.

The judge went on to say that the driver of the Jeep — Cedric Johnson — can be seen extending a hand out of the driver's window and pointing it toward Davis.

The two men then start shooting.

Pruet pointed out that Davis was struck by gunfire and can be seen falling back, before standing up and running toward the front of Miller's car, firing the gun several more times.

In the ensuing mayhem, Bradley hurriedly left the scene while Davis was still shooting.

Miller also could be seen leaving the area as Davis was shooting at the Jeep and saw his car sustain minor damage when it crashed into the Jeep as the two drivers drove south on Grace Street.

Following the shooting, Pruet wrote that the Impala was the last car to leave the scene, with a person seen exiting the vehicle from the passenger side, before standing near the vehicle for approximately seven seconds.

The individual then reportedly got back into the Impala and the vehicle drove quickly down Grace Street. And while a 911 caller reported that the person who got out of the Impala may have fired a shotgun into the air, no evidence has been presented to validate the claims.

Moving on, though, Pruet wrote that after running in front of Miller's vehicle as he was firing the gun, Davis ran west behind the Houndstooth and was last seen at the scene running toward an apartment building.

The focus of the filing then turned to Cedric Johnson and allegations by the defense that he acted as the aggressor that morning.

Indeed, Pruet noted that the Turner Law Group called Johnson to testify but he never showed up to court, with the defense failing to serve him a subpoena.

"Some of what [Miles] told the investigator was true - Johnson clearly had a gun," Pruet wrote. "While the {Miles's] lack of truthfulness does not, in and of itself, negate whatever true statements he made, asking this Court to rely upon those statements — in the absence of supporting testimony — is simply a bridge too far."

Still, Pruet closed his ruling by reiterating that defense attorneys for Miles did not present sufficient evidence during the pre-trial immunity hearing to establish that he should not be prosecuted for the death of Jamea Harris.

He goes on to mention the argument by the Turner Law Group that it was visible Miles feared for his safety as the Jeep approached. Pruet says such an argument is undermined by the fact that Miles walked only a few feet from the Jeep as it approached Miller's car.

"Even with the statute's only requiring [Miles] to make his showing by a preponderance of the evidence, the evidence submitted at the hearing falls far short of that threshold," Pruet wrote. "[Miles] failed to establish that he reasonably believed that anyone inside the Jeep was using or about to use deadly physical force or that they were committing or about to commit Assault in the 1st Degree or Assault in the 2nd Degree."

As Patch previously reported, 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.

The two cases are being tried separately.

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