Why Nate Oats was right to not suspend Brandon Miller

What happened near the University campus in the early morning hours of Jan. 15 was a senseless tragedy. The resulting loss of life is indefensible, regardless of which individual fired first. Those are opinions based on facts learned by police investigators.

Sadly, the national dialog that has ensued has often not been based on facts. Two men, Darius Miles and Michael Davis have been judged by national opinion to be guilty of committing and abetting capital murder. Their guilt and punishment, including their legal defense, will follow a traditional path of prosecution.

Two Alabama basketball players, Brandon Miller and Jaden Bradley are cooperative witnesses in the investigation. Both were at the scene. Neither has been charged with a crime and police investigators have explained there is no basis for them to be charged. Repugnant blowhards like Clay Travis have inflamed the drama by claiming Miller was an accessory to the crime. As is often the case with Travis, he could not be more wrong.

What should be a side story to the tragedy has become more scrutinized and debated. It is what Alabama and Nate Oats should have done to punish Brandon Miller. Unfortunately, a few ill-chosen words from Nate Oats fueled a perception he and Alabama were callous to the fact a young woman died, with three Alabama basketball players close by.

The demand Alabama should suspend Brandon Miller rings loudly across the nation. My question is suspend him for what? To answer that requires listing all the claims proven to not be factual, but are being used as reasons to punish Miller.

• Brandon Miller did not bring a weapon he owned to the scene. According to his attorney, Miller does not own a weapon. The weapon used in the shooting was left in Miller’s car by Darius Miles earlier in the evening. Again according to the attorney, Miles left it concealed in the back seat of the car and Miller was not aware it was there.
• Miller did not receive a text from Miles to bring him his gun and then decide to go to the scene. He was already on the way there when Miles sent the text.
• Contrary to repeated reports, neither Miller’s car nor Jaden Bradley’s car was parked at the scene in an attempt to block the exit of the vehicle, the victim was in.
• Miller never left his car. He never touched the gun. Miles took it from the car and handed it to his friend, who fired the weapon.

More details from the statement from Miller’s attorney are available here.

Police investigators stated they have considerable video evidence from multiple angles showing what happened. One of those camera angles came from a dashcam in Miller’s car. The investigators state the video evidence matches the statements given to them by Miller and Bradley. An attorney must present a case in the most favorable manner for a client., but Miller’s attorney states the facts of the case are fully backed by the video evidence.

Given the above, I ask again, what should Alabama suspend Brandon Miller for? Coming to the aid of a teammate, whose actions Miller did not accurately anticipate? Hanging out with the wrong crowd? Not using sound judgment, that led to him being at the scene of a horrible crime?

None of the above are reasons to suspend Brandon Miller. Those who demand he must be punished for grievously poor judgment should consider suspending him for a game, or for the rest of his college career, will be nothing compared to Miller being haunted by the tragedy for the rest of his life. According to NBA Draft experts, Miller’s standing in the next NBA Draft will be little affected, suspension or not, and perhaps not affected at all. But Brandon Miller will never be at peace with the result of what happened.

So why suspend Brandon Miller? The answer is the optics. A suspension will not help Brandon Miller. It would not help his teammates. The only parties to gain from a suspension are the University of Alabama and Nate Oats.

These words are not likely to change any minds. Hopefully, they might discourage a few opinions, not based on facts.