re: Darius Miles

Motion Filed To Suppress Statements Made By Miles After Shooting

Here's the latest in the capital murder case against former Alabama basketball player Darius Miles.


Defense attorneys for former Alabama basketball player and capital murder suspect Darius Miles 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.

As Patch previously reported, Miles and his childhood friend Michael Lynn Davis, were charged with capital murder after 23-year-old Jamea Harris was shot and killed in a shootout between Davis and Harris' boyfriend Cedric Johnson.

Davis allegedly used the handgun legally owned by Miles and was shot twice in the fatal shooting. The case attracted worldwide attention following news of other Alabama basketball players at the scene of the early morning shooting on Grace Street — most notably freshman standout and future No. 2 overall NBA selection Brandon Miller.

On Sunday, defense attorneys Mary Turner, Kayla Griffin and Grace Prince of the Turner Law Group filed the motion to suppress statements Miles provided during multiple police interviews in the hours immediately following the shooting.

For instance, the Turner Law Group asserts that during an interview lasting over four hours conducted at the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit headquarters, investigator Jeffrey Miller told Miles the following:

"I got to read you something called your rights, okay? You’re not under arrest, it’s just a procedural thing we do because somebody was murdered. Alright, I’m just gonna be straight up with you, alright, somebody was murdered last night. I mean, I think you know that already, alright, but that person passed away, and so, procedurally, I’m gonna read you your rights, okay?”

The Turner Law Group argues that any statements prior to Miles being read his Miranda rights are inadmissible in the state's capital murder case against him.

"It is a basic principle of criminal law that Miranda warnings are given to a suspect?who is in custody," the defense attorneys said in the filing. "Miranda warnings are not a 'procedural thing' done every time someone 'passes away' or even is 'murdered.'"

What's more, the Turner Law Group also said the Violent Crimes Unit investigator read Miles his Miranda rights, before asking for his "autograph" and "if he was going to put his basketball jersey number beside his signature?"

After hours of interrogation, Miller then allegedly had Miles repeat the "unwarned, illegally obtained" statements made prior to first being read his Miranda rights.

Defense attorneys say the investigator did not take any additional measures to cure the previously unwarned, illegally obtained statements. The Turner Law Group asserts that, because of this, statements provided by Miles after he was read his rights were not knowingly and voluntarily obtained.

Instead, Turner insists that the investigators used the illegally obtained statements to confront Miles about his involvement in the shooting.

"Miller’s 'question first' strategy and use of mid-stream Miranda warnings violated Darius’s Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination," the Turner Law Group says in the latest filing.

The motion comes almost two weeks ahead of the pre-trial immunity hearing resuming for Miles after issues with timing, evidence, and witnesses in August.

The hearing is set to resume on Sept. 29.