No Ruling On Motion To Suppress Statements Given To Investigators By Darius Miles

TUSCALOOSA, AL — A hearing lasted nearly four hours Monday in Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court as defense attorneys for former Alabama basketball player and capital murder suspect Darius Miles argued a couple of different motions about evidence and statements made by Miles.

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As Patch previously reported, Miles and his childhood friend, Michael Lynn Davis, are accused of capital murder in the shooting death of 23-year-old Jamea Harris on Grace Street the morning of Jan. 15, 2023. And while Monday was initially set to see Miles have a second bond hearing, two motions made by his defense team were the focus of the hearing.

Monday's proceedings had initially been couched as a second bond hearing for Miles, along with the other two motions by his defense team, but Circuit Court Judge Daniel Pruet informed the defense and prosecutors over the weekend that he decided to consider the discovery motion first, a motion to suppress statements by Miles next and then finally wrap up with the second bond hearing.

Judge Pruet ruled that the hearing would reconvene on Aug. 21 at 9 a.m. — a date that he set to allow the defense to research legal precedent regarding its next set of witnesses subpoenaed to testify.

Before three witnesses took the stand during Monday's hearing, defense attorney Mary Turner of the Turner Law Group first requested that the defense be provided with a log detailing the chain of custody for evidence relating to the cell phone of Cedric Johnson — the boyfriend of the slain young woman from Birmingham who is believed to have shot Michael Davis twice during the fatal gunfight on Grace Street.

As Patch previously reported, Johnson has yet to testify under oath and has, at no point, been mentioned by police as a suspect. However, it's worth noting that the family of Jamea Harris added Johnson as a defendant in a wrongful death civil lawsuit along with Miles, Davis and former Alabama basketball standout Brandon Miller.

During Monday's hearing, Turner insisted that Johnson had not provided a correct passcode for the phone, which could contain evidence relevant to the defense's case. The matter was taken under advisement by Judge Pruet, who did not hand down a ruling on the motion.

Most of the hearing, however, focused on Turner's motion to suppress statements Miles made to investigators before being read his Miranda rights. Cornell Law School defines Miranda as "the warnings that a police officer is required to give to a detainee based on constitutional requirements."

This part of the hearing began with the District Attorney's office playing a recording of the 911 call made by Miles from his teammate Nick Pringle's apartment off of 15th Street — formerly University Downs.

Pringle, a native of Seabrook, South Carolina, transferred to the University of South Carolina following the 2023-24 season.

The 911 call started with Miles telling a dispatcher that he needed an ambulance, before being asked what happened. He then told the dispatcher that a friend had called him saying he had been shot in the shoulder. Miles also can be heard saying he didn't know how Davis had been shot.

"No m'am, he didn't tell me all that," Miles told the dispatcher about the details of his friend's injury, before going on to say that Davis couldn't move his shoulder. Miles also related that Davis didn't know where the shooting had taken place because he was intoxicated.

Miles then apparently gave the phone to Davis, who was clearly both drunk and in pain, just based on the tone of his voice and slurred speech.

"I need help, I need an ambulance ... " Davis said. "I'm drunk, I ain't gonna lie."

Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit assistant commander Captain Marty Sellers was the first witness called by District Attorney Hays Webb to testify.

Sellers recalled that when he arrived at the apartment complex off of 15th Street, he noticed the large police presence and then said there were numerous people in the apartment, along with several uniformed patrol officers.

At least one unnamed person at the apartment, Sellers said, became resistant when asked simple questions relating to identity, before the individual used profane language and made the an already tense situation that much worse.

Sellers then said he spoke with Miles and Pringle a little more than an hour after the shooting, testifying that he talked with them assuming they were witnesses who seemed to be willing to cooperate.

"We didn't believe [Darius] was a suspect through our conversation," Sellers testified, which is relevant to the overarching argument of whether or not Miles was treated as a suspect before being Mirandized by investigators.

Sellers also explained that Miles seemed cooperative and even volunteered information to investigators in the immediate aftermath of the shooting on Grace Street, including telling officers that he had cleaned up some blood in the apartment after he and his girlfriend had arrived with Davis.

Sellers went on to testify that Miles told him he had been at The Strip earlier in the night and heard gunshots but insisted that he hadn't seen anything.

As Patch previously reported, Miles is accused of knowingly providing his legally owned handgun to Davis, which was allegedly used in the shooting that resulted in the death of Jamea Harris.

Nevertheless, Turner questioned Sellers about comments made during the initial interactions at the apartment, first mentioning when the 27-year veteran of the Tuscaloosa Police Department asked everyone in the apartment "who was on The Strip tonight?"

"I guess we're going to have to take statements from everyone here," Sellers admitted to saying. "I got multiple murders tonight ... so you need to start telling me what happened ... "[Davis] is not the only victim. Do you understand me? So you can give us your information or we can put you in custody and take you now. I don't give a f*ck."

Tuscaloosa Police officer Slade Martin, an investigator assigned to the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit, was the next witness called to testify and said he interviewed Miles in a back bedroom of the apartment after being instructed to do so by Sellers.

When asked by Martin if he had heard anything, Miles supposedly told the investigator that he and his girlfriend were leaving Club 1225 and heard gunshots.

It should be noted here that video evidence shows an important gap in time from when they were leaving the bar and when the shooting occurred. As Patch previously reported, the group consisting of Miles, Davis, and former Alabama basketball player Jaden Bradley could be seen breaking up an unrelated brawl involving a large group of young women on Grace Street in the minutes immediately before the shooting.

Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Deputy Jeffrey Miller, also an investigator assigned to the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit, was the last witness to take the stand on Monday, where he was questioned about his interview with Miles at VCU headquarters prior to him being charged with capital murder.

Like his colleague, Miller also interviewed several people at the apartment complex off of 15th Street, away from other potential witnesses. Among those he spoke with was Darius Miles.

Miller testified that after their conversation, Miles had asked about his girlfriend, before being told she was at the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit.

Upon learning this, Miles told Miller that he wanted to go with him to the homicide unit office sometime after 3 a.m. Miller explained that in his Chevrolet Tahoe, he doesn't have a cage or plexiglass partition separating the front seats from the back, and also said because of his equipment, there is very little room in the back seat.

Since Miles was considered a cooperating witness at this point, Miller said Miles rode in the front seat of the SUV with him.

"It's the same seat my daughter sits in," Miller said on the stand.

Miller also related the account provided by Miles regarding the shooting.

"He said he was down on The Strip in his girlfriend's Hyundai Sonata, they got in the car and he received a call from [Davis] who told Miles he was shot," Miller said, before recalling that Miles said they picked Davis up on Riverside Drive — supposedly unaware of how he had been injured.

When questioned by District Attorney Hays Webb regarding the defense's allegations that Miles was treated as a suspect from the first hours of the investigation, Miller explained that once they arrived at the homicide unit office, Miles was not handcuffed and was asked to sit in a hallway that serves as a kind of lobby or waiting room until an interview room opened up.

The point made by Webb here focused on the fact that Miles would have been sitting alone by an elevator and stairwell that would have given him two different points of exit had he decided to leave, which is important considering that Miles had not been told he was being detained.

Once in the interview room with Miller, though, the two men talked for roughly 30 minutes of the first hour Miles was questioned, with Miller agreeing with both Sellers and Martin that, at this point, he believed Miles was nothing more than a witness.

However, he said as the conservation drew on, Miles became noticeably uncooperative and Miller testified that he assumed at this point that Miles was trying to protect his friend

Miller also testified that Cedric Johnson was one of the first witnesses to come to the VCU headquarters and was "one of the last to leave."

Turner argues that Miles was questioned three times at the apartment off 15th Street and had been in an interview room at VCU for four hours and 15 minutes until Miller read him Miranda after seeing video evidence that provided the probable cause to charge Miles with capital murder.

Turner also pointed out that after reading Miranda to Miles, he asked the Crimson Tide basketball player for his "autograph" and also asked Miles if he was going to put his number by his signature.

Indeed, Turner pointed out that Miller acknowledged under oath that he knew Miles was a college athlete and, as a result, bypassed the question on the Miranda warning sheeting asking if he knew how to read and write.

The defense attorney said that considering he knew such a fact, it made little sense for him to trivialize such a moment by referring to Miles' signature on a Miranda warning as an "autograph."

Miller was quick to point out that he made the comment to "build a rapport" with Miles like he has done in numerous other investigations.

It should also be mentioned at this point that Miller admitted under cross-examination that he told those in the apartment off of 15th Street: "I'm a cool-ass dude" as he tried to convince those around him to offer up details about the shooting.

Nevertheless, Turner quoted Miles as telling Miller in the interview room: "I feel like I'm being forced into saying something I didn't do, bruh."

Miller also acknowledged under oath when Turner asked him if he had told Miles "Oh, oh, don't play that. ... you need to think about this: Darius, Darius, Darius."

A brief video of the interview at the Violent Crimes Unit office also showed Miller asking Miles about the gun used in the shooting and saying that he wanted to make sure the gun hadn't been discarded on the street in the aftermath of the shooting where a child could pick it up and harm themselves or others.

At 8:34 a.m. on Jan. 15, 2023, Investigator Jeffrey Miller read Miranda to Darius Miles, who has been held on the charge of capital murder in the Tuscaloosa County Jail for 519 days as of the publication of this story.

Still, Miller insisted under cross examination that all of his questions for Miles at the beginning of their interview focused on Michael Davis as the primary suspect, despite Turner arguing otherwise on behalf of her client.

Michael Lynn Davis is still awaiting his pre-trial immunity hearing where his defense team will seek to prove he acted in self-defense during the fatal shooting.

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