The University of Alabama's basketball team is arguably the best in the entire nation. With a 23-4 record and currently ranked No. 2 in the AP poll, the Crimson Tide have rolled all year. However, this has not come without it's share of controversy. In January, one of their players Darius Miles was charged with capital murder. Miles allegedly contributed to an incident that led to the death of a young woman named Jamea Harris. Reportedly, he provided the gun used to slay her on Univeristy Blvd. near the Alabama campus.
“At this time, it appears that the only motive was a minor altercation that these individuals had with the victim as they were out on the Strip,” Tuscaloosa Police Capt. Jack Kennedy said in a news conference at the time. Supposedly, the man who allegedly shot the gun, Michael Lynn Davis, did so because Jamea Harris rejected him romantically. Although Miles did not fire the weapon, he allegedly provided the gun and was at the scene of the crime. In December, an ankle injury caused Miles to be ruled out for the remainder of the season. Even though he was not active at the time, though, the school expelled him for his involvement with this crime.
Alabama Still In Trouble
On Tuesday (Feb. 21) at a hearing for the case, Tuscaloosa detective Branden Culpepper revealed another Alabama player involved with the crime. Culpepper testified that star forward Brandon Miller supplied the gun for Miles to give to Davis. Miller is currently the team's leading scorer with 18.7 points per game as a freshman. Projected to be a high pick in this year's NBA draft, Brandon Miller is only a freshman. Police said that Miles had texted Miller asking him to bring the weapon to where he was near campus, and Miller obliged. However, Tuscaloosa D.A. Paula Whitley added that "there's nothing we could charge (Miller) with."
When questions arose regarding Miller's alleged involvement with the murder, Alabama's head coach Nate Oats said Tuesday that he was aware of the situation. "We knew about that," he said. "Can't control everything anybody does outside of practice. Nobody knew that was going to happen... Brandon hasn't been in any type of trouble nor is he in any type of trouble in this case. Wrong spot at the wrong time." While this statement appears to show a lack of sympathy from Oats, he also said that the "whole situation is sad" and that Bama was and is "fully cooperating with law enforcement the entire time."
