The credibility of long-standing claims of self-defense was put to the test Thursday as the ongoing Tuscaloosa murder trial of Michael "Buzz" Davis continued.

As the Thread has extensively reported, Davis is the lifelong friend of former Alabama basketball player Darius Miles, and both were charged with capital murder after a January 2023 gunfight on the Strip left 23-year-old Jamea Harris dead.

On Wednesday, the jury heard from Cedric Johnson, who exchanged gunfire with Davis, firing a Taurus Judge revolver from the Jeep where Harris was fatally shot.

Thursday's proceedings started with testimony from Brandon Miller, a former Alabama star now playing for the Charlotte Hornets in the NBA.

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After Miller was excused following about an hour of questions, the jury heard from three separate law enforcement officers - a patrol Officer with the Tuscaloosa Police Department, an Investigator with the Northport Police Department who works with the multi-agency Violent Crimes Unit, and Sergeant Brandon Culpepper, the lead investigator in the Harris case.

The jury heard testimony and watched body camera and interrogation room footage of Michael "Buzz" Davis repeatedly claiming he did not remember the gunfight on the Strip that left him with a bullet in his shoulder and a graze wound to his side.

The TPD patrol officer testified that Davis was able to keep up small talk about his family and church, but told her several times he couldn't remember how he'd been shot, or where he was when it happened, or who might have done it.

In talking to the three investigators, Davis said he'd been drinking Tito's vodka after Alabama beat LSU in Coleman Coliseum the night before the shooting and couldn't remember anything.

The second investigator who interviewed Davis pressed a little harder, telling him that saying he couldn't remember what happened would not help police catch the person who put a bullet in his shoulder.

Davis is on body camera telling the Northport PD VCU investigator that he "didn't care" about finding who was responsible and couldn't recall anything about what happened to him.

Lead Investigator Takes the Stand

Thursday's final witness was Brandon Culpepper, the lead investigator in this case, and in addition to his testimony, the jury saw interrogation footage shot at VCU headquarters as Culpepper interviewed Davis after the shooting.

Their long conversation is the most contentious the jury has seen yet between police and Michael Davis.

Davis continued to claim he was drunk and couldn't remember the shooting - just coming to when he was talking to police and being placed in an ambulance.

"'I don't remember,'" Culpepper repeated back to him. "That ain't the answer to have right now."

On video, Culpepper pulls a few new details from Davis, who eventually admitted that he recalled pregaming at the Vie at University Downs after the basketball game and that he and friends were supposed to go to a club afterwards.

Shortly after Davis said he was "positive" he didn't shoot anybody before he took a bullet himself but couldn't remember anything else, Culpepper's tone shifts to one of clear frustration.

"This is not going to cut it, boss. It ain't gonna work," Culpepper said on video. "And we're going to get to the grand finale after a while."

After a few more minutes of back-and-forth, Davis could be seen telling Culpepper that he wants a lawyer in the room.

That seemed to be the final straw, and Culpepper stopped fishing for answers, telling Davis that although he caught a round in the shoulder, "a girl caught a round in the face."

"I'm telling you that you got shot and that you shot a girl in the face," Culpepper told Davis before leaving the interrogation room.

Physical Evidence

Culpepper also brought a box full of physical evidence - the Taurus Judge Cedric Johnson used in the gunfight, the Smith & Wesson .40 caliber handgun which belonged to Darius Miles and was used by Michael Davis, spent shell casings, a jacket with a bullet hole in it and more.

Jurors got an in-person look at both guns fired on the morning Harris was killed.

It was the first time the court heard how police came to acquire the semiautomatic weapon - apparently, Tide player Jaden Quinerly's parents contacted police and let them know he knew where it was hidden. With the involvement of a University of Alabama attorney, police entered the apartment he shared with Darius Miles and found the gun wrapped in a towel, stashed in a drawer in a closet.

Defense attorney John Robbins's cross-examination of the three investigators focused on Davis's alleged level of intoxication, his pain after the shooting and gaps in police investigation of other parties involved in the shooting.

Culpepper left the stand at 4:45 p.m. Thursday, and the murder trial will resume Friday morning, when the prosecution may move towards resting their case against Davis.

For ongoing coverage of the trial as it unfolds, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.