Prosecutors Move To Exclude Testimony In Darius Miles Immunity Hearing

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Tuscaloosa County District Attorney Hays Webb has requested the exclusion of certain testimony given in the immunity hearing for former Alabama basketball player and capital murder suspect Darius Miles — primarily testimony not involving his state of mind at the time of a fatal Jan. 15 shooting.

Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter and breaking news alerts.

In a motion filed on Thursday in Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court, the District Attorney's Office asked Judge Daniel Pruet to rule on the evidence as part of the ongoing pre-trial immunity hearing for Miles, who is charged with capital murder for his role in the shooting death of 23-year-old Jamea Harris on Grace Street.

Defense attorneys for Miles have argued he acted in self-defense when he provided his friend Michael Lynn Davis with his legally owned firearm that was later allegedly used in the fatal shooting.

Webb requests that, for the immunity hearing, any evidence or testimony be excluded not relating to Miles's state of mind during the time when he claims to have acted in self-defense.

Webb pointed out that testimony in support of such claims was taken on Aug. 21-22 during the first two days of the hearing.

"To this point in the testimony, there remains no reference whatsoever to the killing of Jamea Harris nor to Darius Miles’s claim of self-defense," the District Attorney's Office said in Thursday's filing. "There has been no reference to the defendant’s relevant actions nor to his state of mind."

The District Attorney's Office went on to insist that the original pleading for immunity failed to provide any factual support, instead saying that the defense’s evidence consisted only of pages of a preliminary hearing transcript.

From the evidence submitted by the Turner Law Group — the Tuscaloosa firm representing Miles — the District Attorney's Office says it can only be gleaned that the act of self-defense claimed is Miles’s providing of his gun to Michael Lynn Davis, who allegedly used the gun in the shooting that killed Harris.

The District Attorney's Office says it disagrees and believes this doesn't provide a proper basis for a self-defense claim.

Defense attorney Grace Prince, of the Turner Law Group, filed an objection to the motion from the DA's office, saying the state lacks any law to support its claims regarding Alabama's "Stand Your Ground" law.

Prince wrote that by allowing defense attorneys to only present evidence relating to their client's state of mind, Miles would only be able to prove that he reasonably feared deadly force being used against him or others with him.

ALSO READ: Bama Basketball Shooting Latest: Video Evidence Illuminates Tragedy

What's more, the Turner Law Group pointed out that Shubonte Greene — who was present the night of the shooting and who was subpoenaed to testify in August — said under oath that he and Cedric Johnson were in the "West End Money Gang."

Johnson, the boyfriend of Harris who was driving her Jeep the morning of the shooting on Grace Street, has not testified in court or been charged with any crime. During the shooting, it is believed that Johnson shot Davis twice during the exchange, which came just minutes after the two groups had a brief verbal interaction on The Strip.

Prince wrote in Thursday's filing that evidence Johnson was in a gang is relevant to the possibility of Johnson being the first aggressor. She went on to say that while this has no bearing on Miles's state of mind, it was received into evidence without objection.

More importantly, Prince 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.

The competing motions also come after the Turner Law Group filed a motion Sunday requesting the suppression of statements made by Miles prior to his arrest following the Jan. 15 shooting death of a Birmingham woman.

The Turner Law Group says that any statements prior to Miles being read his Miranda rights are inadmissible in the state's capital murder case against him. Judge Pruet has yet to rule on this motion, as well.

The pre-trial immunity hearing for Miles is set to resume on Sept. 29.

Ryan Phillips is an award-winning journalist, editor and opinion columnist. He is also the founder and field editor of Tuscaloosa Patch. Email news tips to ryan.phillips@patch.com