Darius Miles to Remain Jailed at Least Another Month As Attorneys Push Hearing to March

Former Alabama basketball player Darius Miles will spend another month in the Tuscaloosa County Jail after attorneys and the circuit judge presiding over the capital murder case against him agreed to push back a hearing that was scheduled for later this month.

As the Thread has covered extensively, Miles has been jailed since last January, charged with capital murder for allegedly providing his lifelong friend Michael "Buzz" Davis with a handgun immediately used in a gunfight that killed a 23-year-old woman from Birmingham.

Get our free mobile app

Readers unfamiliar with the case can use the link above to browse through the Thread's two dozen stories covering the shooting, arrests and legal battles that have followed.

Miles' defense team, led by Mary Turner of the Turner Law Group, have argued that he should be granted bail twice since his January 2023 arrest.

They were first denied by District Judge Joanne Jannik then again in circuit court by Judge Daniel Pruet, who is still presiding over the case.

Pruet denied bond in May, but said at the time the denial was "for now," and that he might be open to exploring the matter again as the case develops.

Since then, Pruet has also declined to dismiss the case against Miles on self-defense grounds and in October, Turner and the other defense attorneys filed a renewed motion to grant bond.

A hearing to discuss whether Miles should be granted bond was set for February 22nd, where Turner planned to once again present a case for releasing Miles from jail - that he has no criminal history, has family nearby, will wear an ankle monitor, and be subject to a curfew if he is granted bond.

On Wednesday, though, Turner and the defense team filed a motion to continue the hearing, asking for another month to prepare their arguments for bond. Lead prosecutor Paula Whitley had no issue with the motion, and Pruet granted it, moving the bond hearing now to March 27th, 2024.

That will leave Miles in the county jail for at least another month longer. The capital murder case against the other suspect, alleged shooter Michael Davis, is progressing at its own pace under the representation of defense attorney John Robbins.