Former Tide Basketballer Darius Miles Caught with Synthetic Weed Awaiting Murder Trial

Darius Miles, the former Alabama basketball player awaiting trial on a capital murder charge, has been charged with two new felonies after guards allegedly found synthetic marijuana among his belongings in the Tuscaloosa County Jail.

According to a deposition filed Friday in Tuscaloosa County Court, jail staff found suspected "Paper Route," a synthetic marijuana product, in Miles' property on Wednesday.

Miles, 24, is charged with promoting prison contraband in the second degree and violating Alabama's drug tax stamp law. His bond was set at $2,500 on each charge, but that's a moot point - Miles has been held in the Tuscaloosa County Jail without bond since January 2023 for his alleged role in a shooting death on the Strip.

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He is accused of handing a gun to his lifelong friend, Michael "Buzz" Davis, who fired it moments later in a gunfight that killed a 23-year-old Birmingham woman, Jamea Harris.

Davis was convicted of capital murder in May 2025 after a trial that included testimony from NBA player Brandon Miller, who was with the group the night of the shooting. Prosecutors had earlier withdrawn their intent to seek the death penalty in his case.

Miles was scheduled to go to trial last December, but the case has been stalled for nearly a year after his attorneys sought to have the presiding circuit judge removed from the case. When Circuit Judge Daniel Pruet declined to recuse himself, Miles' defense attorneys appealed the matter to the state Supreme Court, where it has languished without movement all year.

Read more coverage of Miles' case from the Thread here.

In the new case, after the alleged drugs were discovered, A narcotics investigator responded to the jail and tested the paper, which allegedly returned a positive result for synthetic marijuana. Adams wrote that the paper weighed 37 grams and carried no tax stamp on it or its packaging, violating a law that requires drug dealers to buy an excise tax stamp, as you see on cigarettes, when moving their already illegal product.

Under Alabama law, promoting prison contraband in the second degree is a Class C felony. The statute covers anyone confined in a detention facility who knowingly obtains or possesses a controlled substance. The tax stamp violation is also a Class C felony.

Miles has not entered a plea on the new charges and is presumed innocent unless and until he is convicted.

For more exclusive coverage of crime and courts in West Alabama, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.