Where's Cedric Johnson? Details from Day 1 of Darius Miles immunity hearing in murder case
Where is Cedric Johnson?
That was among the central questions during the first day of a pre-trial immunity hearing in the capital murder case the state has brought against former Alabama basketball player Darius Miles. After the hearing spanned about three hours, Judge Daniel Pruet tabled a ruling on the defense's motion for dismissal of the charge against Miles. The hearing will continue Tuesday morning.
In the early morning hours of Jan. 15, Jamea Harris was shot and killed on Grace Street, near the The Strip adjacent to the University of Alabama campus, and Miles was one of two charged with capital murder. Investigators have said the gun used to kill Harris, 23, belonged to Miles, but that Michael Davis pulled the trigger, per court documents. A grand jury indicted Miles and Davis on capital murder charges in March. Harris was a front-seat passenger in a vehicle Johnson was driving when the shooting occurred.
Miles' representation, Turner Law Group, has argued that Miles provided the firearm to Davis for protection, and Davis' attorney has said his client acted in self-defense. Miles' attorney has pointed toward Johnson as the instigator of the incident.
About two hours into Monday's hearing, Miles' attorney, Mary Turner, called for Johnson to take the witness stand, but he was not present in the courthouse.
"Mr. Johnson is not here," Turner said. "We attempted to serve him multiple times."
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Turner later called David Hill, owner of Alabama Investigative Services, to the witness stand, whereupon Hill described multiple attempts, at multiple addresses, to serve Johnson with a subpoena on behalf of Turner Law Group. At one address provided by the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit, Hill said the person who answered the door claimed not to know Johnson and that he did not live at that address. Hill testified that he learned that person was Johnson's mother.
Hill testified he also found correspondence addressed to Johnson in the mailbox.
At one address, Hill testified people were inside but did not open the door. He has not yet seen Johnson at any of these locations, but Hill testified that photos posted to Johnson's social media accounts showed him at an apartment complex that looked exactly like one of the locations where Hill tried to serve Johnson.
Hill testified he put in 10 hours trying to serve Johnson his subpoena and that another investigator spent 12 hours trying to stake out the house trying to serve Johnson coming or going. Four total licensed investigators, including Hill, have attempted to serve Johnson, per testimony from Hill.
Pruet declined to issue a writ of attachment for Johnson and instead decided to take it under advisement. The Alabama rules of criminal procedure explain a writ of attachment to be "commanding that said witness be brought before the issuing judge or magistrate at once for the purpose of examination" when a duly summoned witness doesn't appear in court.
Pruet did, however, issue a writ of attachment for Shu'Bonte Greene, a 23-year-old man from Birmingham who was at the scene Jan. 15. Greene was also subpoenaed but failed to appear Monday.
911 call played
Just more than two hours into the hearing, a 911 call was played from Eileen Carbin, a witness who called Jan. 15 to say there were gunshots fired and she "saw everything."
"It all happened so quickly," Carbin told the dispatcher.
She said she was standing behind the CVS, which is within feet of where the shooting took place.
What's next?
The hearing will continue Tuesday morning, and more witnesses can be called. Once the hearing is over, the court will rule whether Miles acted in self defense made possible through Alabama's stand-your-ground law. If so, Miles would be immune from prosecution and the charge against him would be dismissed. If not, the next big steps in the case would be either a plea agreement or trial.
Reach Tuscaloosa News sports writer Nick Kelly at nkelly@gannett.com. Reach Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @chasegoodbread.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Where's Cedric Johnson? Info from Darius Miles' immunity hearing
