(NewsNation) — DeCarla Heard is mourning the loss of her 23-year-old daughter. Jamea Harris, a young mother, was shot and killed near The Strip in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on Jan. 15.
Michael Davis and Darius Miles, a junior on the University of Alabama men’s basketball team who was later removed from campus and is no longer on the team, face capital murder charges linked to Harris’ death.
According to police testimony, Alabama’s freshman basketball star Brandon Miller provided the gun used in the killing. Miller does not face charges and has continued starting games for the Crimson Tide.
Considering what happened to her daughter, Heard says it’s difficult to see Miller viewed as a sort of hero of basketball.
“It’s painful to watch. I see it every day. It’s on the news every day. I can’t run from it,” Heard told NewsNation host Leland Vittert during an interview Tuesday evening. “We just feel so disrespected, and just, you know, it’s just painful to have to hear about it and see it.”
Heard says no one from the University of Alabama has reached out to her family following her daughter’s untimely death.
“It’s sickening. Even the fact that my niece that was there goes to the University of Alabama, she’s a student there. They have totally just dismissed our family like we don’t exist. It’s painful to have to watch this every day.”
Heard maintains that without Miller’s alleged actions, her daughter would still be alive.
“If there was no gun, then there would be no crime. She would be here. He brought the gun to the scene, so if he hadn’t come or even asked, or bothered to answer, what does he want the gun for, she would still be here,” Heard said.
Heard thinks liability could be a reason her family has not heard from the university.
“At this point, of course, an apology wouldn’t be sincere. I don’t want it at this point. But just to reach out and say, you know, ‘I’m sorry for your loss.’ They say it and we hear it on TV, but it’s not sincere. If it was sincere, they would have reached out on Jan. 15, when I found out and when they found out. I felt like they should have reached out to us,” Heard said.
Earlier in the investigation, the University of Alabama’s athletics department told WBRC they offer their “deepest sympathies to the family and friends of the victim.”
Since the killing, Miller and the University of Alabama have come under fire for Miller’s teammates giving him a pat-down during pregame introductions in wake of Harris’ death. Alabama coach Nate Oats who has insisted Miller was in the wrong place at the wrong time, apologized for the pregame display that had also happened prior to Jan. 15.
“That situation’s on me,” Oats said Tuesday of the pregame ritual. “We addressed it as a team. As soon as I brought it up to them, they immediately understood how it could be interpreted, and we all felt awful about it.
“They explained to me that it’s like when TSA checks you when you get on a plane. And now Brandon’s cleared for takeoff. We as the adults in the room should have been more sensitive to how it could have been interpreted. I dropped the ball. That’s it, I dropped the ball on it. I can assure you it won’t happen again.”
As it relates to law enforcement linking Miller to the gun, Alabama’s athletic director said they have tried to handle the situation in a way they think is “right.”
“What I have tried to think about this entire time is let’s do what we think is right,” Alabama AD Greg Byrne told ESPN “What I felt is that Brandon needed to be treated fairly like any other student-athlete and that’s what’s been driving us through that. Let’s do what we think is right.”
Heard believes that if some other student was in Miller’s shoes, they would likely be expelled or escorted off the university’s campus.
“If it was any other student, they would absolutely hold him accountable. They would hold him accountable for the safety of any other student that was on the university,” Heard said.
But sports agent and public relations adviser Doug Eldridge says it might not be that simple. While speaking with Vittert, Eldridge explained that university policy and the team’s policy may be interesting parts of the equation.
“The university has not said that Miller, however head scratching his actions are on the night in question and as recently as this weekend, he hasn’t clearly violated team policy or school policy. So any suspension or sitting him would have to be subjected to that violation,” Eldridge said, later adding: “In the absence of a violation of school or team policy, they’re in a tough position to make an arbitrary suspension … no matter how much sense it might make to the viewing audience.”
Eldridge says as evidence rolls out, the university may be in a different position but right now, Oats is in a place where he must abide by the school’s athletic department codes of conduct. Still, Eldridge thinks Oats’ approach has been “inexcusable.”
“These are unforced errors that this team is committing in the court of public opinion. This has to stop. This is magnifying an already horrible discussion and situation,” Eldridge said.
The second-ranked Crimson Tide’s biggest star’s attorney claims Miller never handled the gun and did not know it was going to be used for a crime. Miller is the SEC’s leading scorer and fifth-leading rebounder, averaging 19.7 points and 8.0 rebounds per game.
Since The Tide has the opportunity to clinch the SEC regular season title outright with a win Wednesday night against Auburn, some have wondered if Miller’s value on the team has contributed to the university’s response to the killing and the team’s decision to keep him on board.
“In terms of the public relations response by the University of Alabama, I don’t think it could have possibly been handled more poorly,” Eldridge said. “We’re talking about the dichotomy right now of the court of law, and the court of public opinion. In the court of law, the wheels of justice often move slowly, but in the court of public opinion, it moves swiftly and often renders a damning result. But what they’re doing is only amplifying the problem and blurring the optics around this situation.”
While Eldridge believes the court of opinion seems to already have their verdict, the investigation into Harris’ death will ultimately have to play out in the court of law.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.