TUSCALOOSA, AL — The boyfriend of a Birmingham mother killed in a shooting off of The Strip last year has been added as the fourth defendant in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by her family against the two suspects charged with capital murder and former Alabama basketball standout Brandon Miller.
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As Patch previously reported, Birmingham native Cedric Johnson was driving his girlfriend’s Jeep on Grace Street in the early morning hours of Jan. 15, 2023, and traded gunfire with Maryland native Michael Lynn Davis following a verbal altercation on The Strip just minutes prior.
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Jamea Harris, 23, was struck as she sat in the passenger seat and was pronounced dead shortly thereafter at a second crime scene at The Walk of Champions.
The next day, Davis and former Alabama basketball player Darius Miles were arrested and charged with capital murder.
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Despite serious questions raised by the defense regarding his role in the shooting, Johnson was never named as a suspect and has not been charged, despite shooting Davis twice during the fatal altercation.
However, the 8-page amended complaint filed Wednesday shows that Johnson now joins Davis, Miles and Miller as defendants in the civil case.
As Patch previously reported, Harris’s mother Declara Raietta Heard is the plaintiff in the wrongful death lawsuit filed in October in United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama’s Western Division, is represented by Birmingham attorneys Kirby Farris and Malia D. Tartt of Farris, Riley & Pitt, along with Mintrel Martin of The Martin Law Firm.
The complaint accuses each of the four men of a single count of wantonness and neglect under the Alabama Wrongful Death Act, with the filing reading:
“Defendants failed to act and/or acted unreasonably allowing/causing the incident made the basis of this suit. Specifically, Defendants Miles, Davis, Miller and Johnson knew or should have known that bringing a dangerous weapon to a dispute and discharging said weapon would likely result in harm.”
It’s been widely reported by Patch and other outlets that Johnson has managed to avoid being served a subpoena to testify as the criminal cases moved forward, having only been served once by the Turner Law Group while sitting in the audience during a hearing in 2023.
The story gained national attention, however, when former Alabama basketball player Darius Miles was charged with capital murder for giving Davis — a childhood friend — his legally owned handgun that was allegedly used in the shooting.
Defense attorneys have said Miles provided Davis his pistol after seeing Harris pass a handgun to Johnson in the Jeep during the initial interaction between the two groups. This, the Turner Law Group
What’s more, it was learned in court that Miller, who went on to be the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, was reported to have had the gun owned by Miles in his vehicle before the shooting and at the initial crime scene on Grace Street.
Miller was not charged, is not considered a suspect in the case and has reportedly cooperated with every phase of the investigation up to this point.
Miller’s legal counsel Jim Standridge explained following the shooting that Miles brought his handgun out the night of the shooting, which is legal without a permit under the new Alabama law that went into effect on Jan. 1, before saying the gun was then left in the back seat of Miller’s Dodge Charger that night.
Standridge claimed at the time that Miller never saw the handgun or handled it.
“Further, it is our understanding that the weapon was concealed under some clothing in the backseat of his car,” Standridge said in February 2023, before saying Miller did not go inside the nightclub on The Strip with Miles, Davis and Tide basketball player Jaden Bradley, opting instead to leave and go to a nearby restaurant to eat.
“At approximately midnight, Mr. Miles began asking Brandon to come pick him up so that they could leave and go to another location and join friends,” he said of the widely documented text message exchange. “Brandon advised that he would be along later, and, approximately one hour later, Brandon began to leave the restaurant to pick up Mr. Miles, but first had to give another companion a ride home.”
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The criminal cases against Davis and Miles have entered their second year, with Miles is set to have a second bond hearing in March.
The defense attorneys for both capital murder suspects have insisted that Johnson was the aggressor and should have been considered a suspect in the killing, while also pointing to evidence that the two men felt threatened after seeing the Jeep driven by Johnson circling the block — and with its headlights off immediately before the shooting.
Prosecutors, on the other hand, have stated that Miles provided Davis the handgun knowing he intended to use it to commit a deliberate act of violence and point to evidence they believe shows that the shooting was an act of pre-meditated murder by the two men.
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