Darius Miles, former Alabama basketball player is one of the two suspects charged with capital murder on January 15, 2023, after the alleged murder of Jamea Jonae Harris. The second suspect in the shooting case is Michael Lynn Davis, 20.
The 23-year-old woman Harris was discovered dead inside a car, that her boyfriend, Cedric Johnson drove, said the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Captain Jack Kennedy. Court filings stated that Davis fired the deadly shots, while Miles admitted to providing Davis with the gun.
Investigators determined that the shooting occurred in the 400 block of Grace Street off University Boulevard. The ordeal began with the suspects attempting to talk to Harris, who has told them that she had a boyfriend and wasn’t interested, claimed Harris’ mother, DeCarla Heard, reported AL.com.
Case detective Branden Culpepper testified that Davis fired at least eight shots. Johnson, Harris’ boyfriend, returned fire, hitting Davis in the shoulder. Harris was struck in the left of her face. Johnson drove the car to the Walk of Champions where they stopped when they found a police officer. Harris was declared dead there.
There are certain circumstances under which the crime is determined to be a capital murder in Alabama. In Harris’s murder case, this was considered capital murder because she was shot in a vehicle.
This was classified as a capital offense because it is “murder committed by or through the use of a deadly weapon while the victim is in a vehicle,” according to provisions of Alabama Criminal Code Title 13A-5-40.
The provisions allow both death sentence or life in prison without parole in the state of Alabama, if someone is found guilty of capital murder.
Also, the Criminal Code empowers defendants to enter into plea agreements for a lesser sentence. A lesser sentence can be given in order for prosecutors to receive a guilty plea on a less serious offense.
