New Details In Murder Case Of Former UA Basketball Player; Judge Yet To Rule On Bond

TUSCALOOSA, AL — New details have emerged after a three-hour preliminary hearing Tuesday for former Alabama basketball player Darius Miles and Michael Lynn Davis, who both stand accused of capital murder in the shooting death of 23-year-old Jamea Harris in the early morning hours of Jan. 15.

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The thermostat on the wall read 74 degrees inside the packed courtroom at the Tuscaloosa County Jail, with the pews completely filled with lawyers, family members and reporters. Others were relegated to standing in the aisle or along the walls.

Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit investigator Branden Culpepper wiped sweat from his forehead halfway into his two hours of testimony and cross examination during the hearing, where he recounted the facts of the case as he understood them.

As Patch previously reported, Miles, 21, and Davis, 20, of Charles County, Maryland are both charged with capital murder in the shooting death of Harris, which followed a minor altercation on The Strip near the UA campus.

However, Culpepper recounted additional witnesses who were present at the scene or had knowledge of the parties and circumstances involved.

Most notably among these were Alabama basketball players Brandon Miller and Jaden Bradley, both of whom had been at Club 1225 on The Strip following the Tide's blowout win over LSU just hours before the shooting.

Details presented showed that three people, including Harris, her boyfriend, and another female UA student — who also took the stand as a witness Tuesday — were in Harris' black Jeep at the time of the shooting.

Surveillance video evidence presented during the preliminary hearing alleged to show Davis, Miles and Bradley walking along the Strip, before stopping to exchange words with the occupants of the Jeep.

The defense claimed Davis and Harris' boyfriend engaged in a brief verbal altercation, before saying Bradley told investigators that Miles had attempted to calm Davis down. It was during this time, too, that Mary Turner — the defense attorney for Miles — said that Miles had claimed to have seen a gun passed from the front seat to the back seat and proceeded to urge Davis to leave the location.

Davis had reportedly asked Harris for her number, which prompted the altercation with her boyfriend.

Culpepper, however, retorted that the three occupants of the Jeep had just picked up something to eat from Quick Grill on the Strip, and speculated that what Miles claimed he saw could actually have been food being passed from the front of the Jeep to the back seat.

Still, it was in the moments after this brief interaction that text messages presented during the hearing showed Miles asking Miller, who was his ride that evening, to bring him his handgun.

"I need my joint," he texted Miller, using slang terminology to refer to the gun, before using additional coded language that the defense suggested was proof that Miles and others felt threatened after the verbal altercation. Later it was learned that once Miller had arrived to where the shooting took place on Grace Street, Miles told Davis where the gun was located.

Culpepper testified that at no point in any of the interviews with Miles, Davis or any others involved, did any of them mention they had felt their lives were in danger prior to the shooting.

The defense, however, insisted that it was the occupants of the Jeep who could have been the aggressors, pointing out that the individual who returned fire, hitting Davis twice, had told investigators they were parked with their lights off on Grace Street because they were not from the area and did not know their way around.

This accusation was refuted by Turner, who argued that one of the occupants of the Jeep was a University of Alabama student and, indeed, somewhat knew her way around Tuscaloosa.

In the video shown in court, the Jeep can be seen with its headlamps off and hazard lights flashing moments before the shooting as it was parked along the curb near the intersection of Grace Street and University Boulevard. The defense argues that the vehicle turned onto Grace Street and turned around to come back to where the group was.

At some point just before 2 a.m., an individual alleged to be Davis came up behind the Jeep and proceeded on to the front driver's side before shots rang out. The fatal shot that killed Harris entered the vehicle through the windshield and struck her in the head as she sat in the passenger seat.

While the Tuscaloosa County District Attorney's Office insisted it was Davis who shot first, the defense cast doubt on the circumstances of the shooting, claiming Davis and others had felt threatened. Turner went on to argue that prosecutors failed to show the probable cause that resulted in the two men being charged with capital murder.

VCU investigator Bryan Beal processed the two crime scenes at Grace Street and where the Jeep made contact with a University of Alabama Police officer at the Walk of Champions in the moments after the shooting. He said a total of eight .40 shell casings and a projectile fragment were recovered from the scene on Grace Street, while the Judge brand .45 revolver used to return fire from the Jeep had four spent cartridges in the five-chamber handgun.

Upon searching the Jeep in the aftermath of the shooting, investigators found a magazine for an additional handgun and an unspecified amount of marijuana.

As previously stated, Davis was struck twice during the deadly altercation — once in the shoulder and a graze on his hip. Davis, who goes by the nickname Buzz and has the word tattooed on his throat, sat with his right shoulder in a sling during Tuesday's hearing. During his bond hearing, the defense and his mother both claimed he has not been able to receive adequate medical attention for his injuries and has had to go back to the hospital twice.

What's more, his mother claimed he still had the bullet in his right shoulder. She also mentioned that Davis had previously been arrested for a charge involving a gun.

In the minutes that followed the shooting, Culpepper said Miles called 911 and told dispatch that Davis had been shot. Police were then dispatched to University Downs apartments, where Miles lived with at least one other UA basketball player.

Once on scene, Miles and others told police that they did not know how Davis had been shot and Davis later told investigators and hospital staff that he had been drinking heavily and did not remember how he had come about his injuries.

Culpepper said Miller also informed police that he never saw anyone with a gun or saw the shooting that left Harris dead.

Following the preliminary hearing where the evidence was presented, the defense teams for both Davis and Miles requested they be granted bond. Both attorneys said the two men would be under the care of their parents and would follow any supervision guidelines established by the court to ensure their cooperation with the legal proceedings.

Miles could be seen crying when his mother took the stand, while Davis' mother revealed that the two men had been close friends since middle school.

Tuscaloosa County District Judge Joanne E. Jannik did not issue a ruling on the bond motions and said her order would be handed down at a later date.

Assistant District Attorney Paula Whitley told local media gathered outside the jail on Tuesday that the state believes there is more than sufficient evidence for the cases to move forward to the grand jury.

"The judge heard a lot of information and we will wait to hear her ruling as soon as she gets time to issue it," she said.

Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats was somber when he took the podium on Tuesday following the preliminary hearing, saying he has been aware of the situation and the potential involvement of other players. He also told Tide beat writers that the team closed practice with a prayer for all involved, including Harris, her family and her son.

"We knew about that, you can't control everything, what everybody does outside of practice, nobody knew that was going to happen," Oats said. "Brandon hasn't been in any type of trouble nor is he in any kind of trouble in this case. Wrong spot, wrong time."

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