Darius Miles’ Attorney Asks for Immunity Hearing and Dismissal

Attorneys for former Alabama basketball player Darius Miles have asked a judge to consider dismissing the capital murder charge against him at an immunity hearing.

Mary Turner, the defense attorney representing Miles, filed motions Thursday afternoon asking judge Daniel Pruet for an immunity hearing and to dismiss the charges against her client.

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As has been exhaustively reported, Miles and his longtime friend Michael Davis were charged with capital murder after a January gunfight on the Tuscaloosa Strip left 23-year-old Jamea Harris dead.

Prosecutors say Miles handed Davis a semiautomatic handgun after Davis had a brief verbal confrontation Cedric Johnson, who was Harris' boyfriend and father to her young son. Moments later, Davis and Johnson exchanged gunfire.

Harris was struck and killed and Davis was wounded in the exchange, and all parties fled the scene.

Ultimately, Davis and Miles were both arrested the following day and charged with capital murder. Two judges have denied bond to Miles, and he has been jailed since mid-January.

Turner said in her motion that Miles is immune from criminal prosecution "based on a theory of self-defense."

She said in a previous hearing that Johnson and others with him that night were aggressors who intended to hurt Davis after his back-and-forth with Johnson in the street and that Miles felt they were in danger when he gave Davis his pistol.

Davis' attorney has also argued since February that Johnson fired the first shot that night and Davis was returning fire in self-defense.

Her motions ask Pruet to set a date for an immunity hearing, consider the defense's arguments and evidence and rule whether Miles is immune from prosecution because of self-defense.

It's unknown if there have been an new developments or motions on Davis' behalf - his records have been made confidential while Pruet weighs whether to grant him youthful offender status because he was under 21 at the time of the shooting.

For updates on both cases as they develop, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.