Date set for ex-Bama player Darius Miles’ capital murder trial

Former Alabama basketball player Darius Miles is scheduled to stand trial for capital murder beginning Dec. 1 in Alabama Circuit Court, more than two years after he was arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of Jamea Harris in Tuscaloosa.

Miles, 23, was accused of “aiding and abetting” co-defendant Michael Davis, who was found guilty of capital murder. Davis was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and is in the process of appealing the verdict.

Davis was found guilty of firing into Harris’ Jeep during a shootout with Harris’ boyfriend, Cedric Johnson. A bullet struck and killed Harris while she sat in the front passenger seat. In Alabama, shooting and killing someone while they are in a vehicle leads to a capital murder charge.

Prosecutors say that Miles provided Davis, who was his childhood friend, with the gun. In Davis’ trial, defense attorneys argued that Davis was protecting himself from Johnson when he fired the gun.

The state previously had taken the death penalty off the table for Miles. He has been held without bond in Tuscaloosa County Jail since his arrest on Jan. 15, 2023 — the day he was removed from the Alabama basketball team.

Miles played 53 games for Alabama with two starts, averaging 4.2 points per game.

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Charlotte Hornets forward Brandon Miller, a former Alabama standout, was among those who testified in Davis’ trial. Miller and Miles had texted in the half-hour leading up to the shooting, and Miller had driven his car to a bar in Tuscaloosa, where he was going to pick up Miles. Miller testified he was not aware Miles had put his gun in Miller’s car until he arrived. Miller has not been accused of wrongdoing or charged with any crime and has cooperated with the investigation.

It’s not yet known whether Miller or any other current or former members of the Alabama men’s basketball program will be called to testify in Miles’ trial. In the Davis trial, the state called Miller and now-Arizona point guard Jaden Bradley, who had been a member of the Crimson Tide in 2023. The state also listed ex-Alabama team manager Cooper Lee — who was in the passenger seat of Miller’s car — and former Crimson Tide basketball player Nick Pringle as potential witnesses in the Davis trial, but neither was called to testify.

Miller and Bradley testified in Davis’ trial that Davis had been around the Alabama basketball team often, primarily with Miles, even though he had no official affiliation with the program.