Brandon Miller's Attorneys Released A Statement On His Involvement In The Darius Miles Case Before Tonight’s Game
Clutch Points- “On Jan. 14th Brandon played in a basketball game in the afternoon and later was asked by Darius Miles for a ride to the Strip area to go to a night club,” the statement says. “Mr. Miles brought his legal handgun and left it in the back seat of Brandon’s vehicle. Brandon never saw the handgun nor handled it. Further, it is our understanding that the weapon was concealed under some clothing in the back seat of his car.”
Miller went to a restaurant to eat after dropping Miles off at the nightclub, according to the statement. Later on, Miles asked Miller to pick him up so he could go to another location, and Miller said he would pick him up later on. Before going to pick up Miles, he gave another companion a ride home. One Miller’s way to Miles, Miles and Jamea Harris exchanged words, and Miles texted Miller.
“As Brandon was already on the way to pick up Mr. Miles, Mr. Miles texted Brandon and asked him to bring him his firearm,” the statement says. “Brandon subsequently arrived at the scene to pick up Mr. Miles. Brandon never got out of his vehicle or interacted with anyone in Ms. Harris’ party… Brandon never touched the gun, was not involved in its exchange to Mr. Davis in any way, and never knew that illegal activity involving the gun would occur.”
Alabama Athletics has also released a statement :
First off the actions of Darius Miles are not to be taken lightly, and the unfortunate death of Jamea Harris is very tragic. A lot has been said about Brandon Miller and Nate Oats in the last two days. A lot of people say they should never play or coach again. I will say that everyone is entitled to their opinion, but in any case or situation the judicial system is a long process. Facts come in piece by piece, things take a long time to unfold. Everyone seemed to make a swift judgment on the case based on preliminary hearings. After one preliminary hearing, no one can tell anything, it's why we have judicial systems.
A big criticism of Nate Oats’ comments yesterday, (which he quickly adjusted) was the line “wrong place wrong time”. I would like to remind everyone that press conference was live. If Coach was able to write a book, or formulate his thoughts over an hour long podcast, they would have been crafted better (which he ultimately did later on). I agree it was a terrible answer and he should have been more prepared so I understand the backlash but he did correct himself after.
Today, Brandon Miller's lawyers released a statement stating he never saw the gun, never had any intent to use the gun, nor did he know that Miles had the gun. He was also already on the way to pick up Darius Miles when Miles sent him the text.
The real thing here, and my statement is below. There is a hierarchy of athletic departments, and while everyone on the team and the sidelines should feel horrible about Darius Miles actions, if everyone cooperated with the police in the investigation and the university has not issued a suspension, what else are Brandon Miller and Coach Oats supposed to do other than to show up to work? What kind of person shows up to work at their own leisure, or whenever they feel like it? It's Game Day… put your hard hat on and punch in.