Judge in Darius Miles' Murder Case Will Not Recuse Before Trial

The circuit judge overseeing the capital murder case against former Alabama Basketball player Darius Miles will not step down before a December jury trial, denying any bias in an order issued Thursday.

As the Thread has extensively reported, Miles is accused of handing a gun to his friend Michael "Buzz" Davis just before he engaged in a gunfight with a Birmingham man, Cedric Johnson, and fatally shot Johnson's girlfriend, a 23-year-old mother named Jamea Harris. The killing, which took place on the Tuscaloosa Strip just off campus after a Bama Hoops home win, shook the community and has brought violent crime even further into the focus of political conversations in west Alabama.

There is disagreement over who shot first, but both young men were arrested soon after the shooting and charged with capital murder. They have been jailed without bond since January 2023. Davis was convicted of capital murder earlier this year and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Circuit Judge Daniel Pruet oversaw that case, and is also handling the Miles' trial, which is set to begin in December.

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Mary Turner, the lead defense attorney for Miles, accused Pruet of bias earlier this month and asked him to recuse himself from the case against the former Tide athlete.

After taking about two weeks to consider relevant case law about the appearance of bias, Pruet denied the motion on Thursday.

Pruet said Turner cited the correct laws and canons about bias and recusal, they do not apply in his oversight of the case against Darius Miles.

"The Defendant has received more accommodations from this Court than any other defendant since the undersigned took the bench. As far as the undersigned remembers, the Court has granted every scheduling request made by defense counsel and every request for extraordinary funds," Pruet wrote. "The Defendant's attorneys have worked extremely hard on this case and they have, therefore, asked for more than attorneys who are not as dedicated to their cause. While the quantity of accommodations provided to the Defendant reflects the extraordinary efforts of his counsel, the Court not denying a single request stands in stark contrast to the arguments raised in the Motion."

"The undersigned is not biased for or against any party in this case. Likewise, the undersigned's presiding over the Co-Defendant's case has not, in any way, provided the amount of knowledge of the evidence in this case that would warrant, much less require, recusal," Pruet continued. "Further, no actions taken by this Court, much less the ones described in the Defendant's Motion, would lead a reasonable person to question the Court's impartiality. Thus, for reasons set forth below, the Motion is due to be denied."

Pruet breaks down Turner's individual allegations one at a time, and the crux of his order is simply that the defense has failed to demonstrate any real or perceived bias, and the circuit judge will not step away from the case.

The capital murder trial is now set to begin during the first week of December. Miles, if convicted on that charge, would also face life in prison after the state took the death penalty off the table as a possible sentence.

For coverage from the courts and other news in West Alabama, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.