On the morning of January 15, 2023, Decarla Raietta Heard learned that her daughter, Jamea Jonae Harris, had been killed in a shooting near the University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa. Nine months later, Heard has elected to file a federal wrongful death lawsuit against three men connected to the shooting, including Charlotte Hornets Forward Brandon Miller. Filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama Western Division, the lawsuit demands a jury trial to award damages following the untimely death of her daughter.
“They would like to hear testimony from all three of the young men involved concerning what they did, said and saw,” Harris’ attorney, Kirby D. Farris, said.
“The family would like the opportunity, through their attorneys, to investigate why and how the gun was brought to the scene of a confrontation that resulted in the death of their daughter. Once we have had the opportunity to evaluate the evidence in the case, we can make decisions about the degree of culpability, if any, of each.”
Legal representatives for both the plaintiff and defendants have presented conflicting accounts of what took place on the night of January 14, 2023 in Tuscaloosa. However, it is clear that Harris and her boyfriend traveled to Alabama to visit her cousin. While in town, the trio traveled to The Strip, a stretch of University Boulevard near Bryant-Denny Stadium. During their time on the strip, the party of three stopped at a bar and encountered former Alabama Crimson Tide player Darius Miles and Michael Davis at a nearby street later that night. As the altercation unfolded, Miller was asked to come to the scene, providing Miles with his firearm. Shortly thereafter, shots were fired and Harris was fatally shot in the face. Attorneys for both Miles and Davis have claimed that Harris’ boyfriend fired the first shot while his attorneys claim the opposite occurred. Ultimately, Miller was not charged, but Miles and Davis currently face capital murder charges.
Miller may not have been charged, but the latest wrongful death lawsuit claims that he “knew or should have known that bringing a dangerous weapon to a dispute and discharging said weapon would likely result in harm.” The Charlotte Hornets rookie has not issued a statement in response to the latest lawsuit, but he has described the shooting as “heartbreaking.”
“I never lose sight of the fact that a family lost one of their loved ones that night,” Miller said in March.
“This whole situation is just really heartbreaking.”
