Defense Puts Focus On Boyfriend Of Jamea Harris Ahead Of Trial

TUSCALOOSA, AL — New details surfaced in a pre-trial hearing Thursday for a Maryland man accused of capital murder in the shooting death of a 23-year-old Birmingham mother near The Strip a little more than two years ago.

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As Patch previously reported, Charles County native Michael Lynn Davis was charged along with former Alabama basketball player Darius Miles after Jamea Harris was killed in a shooting on Grace Street in the early morning hours of Jan. 15, 2023.

Miles, who has not had a trial date set, is accused of giving Davis his handgun knowing it would be used in the shooting with Cedric Johnson — Harris' boyfriend and the father of her child who was driving her Jeep when the first shots were fired. Both men have been in the Tuscaloosa County Jail without bond since the hours immediately following the shooting.

The murder cases against Davis and Miles are being tried separately, with Davis represented by Birmingham attorney John Robbins.

During Thursday's hearing in Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court, Judge Daniel Pruet considered four different pre-trial motions, mostly related to individual exhibits of evidence being excluded ahead of trial.

The first two motions considered saw the defense for Davis request that small baggies, a digital scale and a firearm be excluded from evidence, to which the state agreed.

However, Davis sat quietly in a red and black Tuscaloosa County Jail jumpsuit as Robbins insisted that the District Attorney's Office looked past important evidence against Johnson due to him supposedly cooperating as the state's star witness.

In its motion, the state requested that certain items be excluded that were recovered from the Jeep owned by Harris at the time of the fatal shooting.

Johnson, who allegedly shot Davis twice during the shootout a few minutes after a verbal altercation with him on The Strip, has yet to testify in court and Robbins took specific issue with the fact that Johnson has not been charged with any crime in the wake of the shooting.

"He is a critical witness for the state and his credibility is an issue, " Robbins said, before mentioning that there was "no question" that Johnson was a drug dealer who was in town for the sole purpose of selling marijuana. This represented the first time Johnson has been accused by the defense of selling drugs after his previous gang ties in the Birmingham area came to the surface during a pre-trial immunity hearing last year.

Robbins objected to the state's request regarding items in the Jeep and explained that on the morning of the shooting, Harris and Johnson posted pictures on social media flashing a large wad of cash, while one picture clearly shows the handle of a pistol in the waistband of Johnson's track pants.

For the first time in open court, Robbins elaborated on what was recovered from the Jeep after it was inventoried by the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit. This included shells and a box of ammunition in the glove box, an extended magazine for an unspecified firearm and a backpack.

Robbins said the backpack contained a large amount of marijuana that had been divided up into smaller baggies to be sold, along with a digital scale and additional bags. While all of these items were recovered, Robbins said the large amount of cash in the photos on social media was not.

"[Police] could have charged [Johnson]," Robbins said. "He knows he could be charged and he refused to give police access to his cell phone."

This led Robbins to his overarching point that the "District Attorney's Office has a bias toward the defense" and declined to charge Johnson in exchange for him cooperating as a witness for its case against the two men charged with capital murder.

"The state is relying on Mr. Johnson's version of the facts," he said. "He was there hunting my client and my client's actions were justified."

As Patch previously reported, defense attorneys for Miles cite video evidence in their claims that the occupants of the Jeep, following the brief verbal altercation on The Strip, immediately began circling the block looking for the group that consisted of Davis, Miles and former Alabama basketball player Jaden Bradley.

Chief Assistant District Attorney Paula Whitley represented the state Thursday and called the accusations from Robbins "a distraction" for the jury and little more than the defense for Davis constructing a narrative.

Judge Pruet then questioned the merits of Robbins' claims, saying that it had already been established that the shooting was not the result of a "drug deal gone wrong," which prompted the judge to question the relevance of the evidence as it relates to the marijuana recovered from the Jeep.

The motion by the state was ultimately granted but the matter can be revisited at trial if the items recovered from the Jeep are deemed relevant.

Discussions during Thursday's pre-trial hearing then turned to the recently settled wrongful death civil lawsuit against the two men charged with capital murder and former Alabama basketball star Brandon Miller, who currently plays for the Charlotte Hornets of the NBA.

Miller was never charged or named a suspect after it was revealed that the handgun owned by Miles had been retrieved from the latter's car in the moments before the shooting.

Defense attorneys for Miles have claimed that he texted Miller to bring him his handgun, which he had left in the back seat of the car, after noticing what he believed to be Harris passing a handgun to Johnson in the back seat during the verbal altercation on The Strip.

Patch previously reported that the wrongful death lawsuit called for a judge to grant a jury trial to award damages to the victim's family in an amount exceeding $75,000.

After the settlement was reached, the civil lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice by U.S. District Court Judge Anna M. Manasco, with both sides covering their own court costs.

Robbins pointed out, however, that Johnson had also been added as a defendant in the civil lawsuit but was later removed before a settlement was reached, speculating that this was done once it became in the prosecution's best interests in the criminal case.

As the hearing on Thursday came to a close, Judge Pruet raised his concerns over the impacts of pre-trial publicity ahead of jury selection and agreed with both sides in the case that potential jurors would be given a questionnaire.

A total of 72 potential jurors will be considered, with the selection process set to begin Monday.

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