As the drama continues in the FBI/ College Basketball investigation, good news came Friday, as Sean Miller will not testify in the hoops trial.
We’ve been saying it folks, just be patient and let things play out how they’re supposed to. For those following the ongoing FBI Investigation, finally some good news for Arizona Basketball fans came on Friday as Sean Miller will not testify in the hoops trial.
This is huge! There was a lot of doubt that Miller would even have to go to trial anyways, but nonetheless, the news broke Friday that he will not be called on to testify.
More from Zona Zealots
- Arizona Football begins Conference play against Stanford
- Arizona Football starts slow but runs away from UTEP
- How Wildcats Fans Can Claim $200 INSTANT Bonus at BetMGM Betting $10 Right Now
- Costly Mistakes doom Arizona Football in loss to Mississippi State
- Arizona Basketball likely to schedule Florida Atlantic for 2023
U.S. District Court judge Edgardo Ramos deemed his testimony “irrelevant”, even if he and LSU coach Will Wade allegedly could have paid their players.
What? How? Well, the testimony would be irrelevant to the trial, because it’s bribery charges that are being brought against Christian Dawkins and Merl Code.
Here was the original argument made that the government filed according to Jason Scheer and 247Sports:
“Defendant Dawkins has indicated that he has subpoenaed two current men’s basketball head coaches to testify, and both defendants have indicated they plan to play calls with these coaches in their case-in-chief. Defendant Dawkins has proffered that he intends to call both coaches to testify about how much influence, as a head coach, they have over their student- athletes and how Dawkins did not bribe them.
“To the extent that the defendants, as Dawkins’s counsel suggested, seeks to introduce evidence that they dealt with men’s basketball coaches who they did not bribe, such evidence would constitute impermissible “good acts” evidence and should be precluded. Moreover, even were there a marginal non-propensity purpose for such evidence, the absence of criminal conduct in relationships with coaches that are not part of the Government’s case-in-chief is irrelevant and inadmissible.”
This is best summed up by a case that is cited in the motion: “A defendant charged with robbing a bank in Manhattan on April 22 cannot offer as evidence to disprove the charged crime that he did not rob the bank’s branches in Brooklyn or the Bronx on April 22 or that he did not rob the Manhattan branch on April 20, 21, 23, and 24, because this evidence is irrelevant to the charge that he robbed the Manhattan bank on April 22.”
The motions filed were accepted, and prevents Miller from having to testify. That of course comes with a bit of displeasure.
Defense attorney Steve Haney said in this morning’s hearing: “The evidence establishes very clearly that Sean Miller is paying players at Arizona.”
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) April 19, 2019
Afterward, Haney told reporters, “You’ll have to be here to hear the evidence.”
Haney of course is the defense attorney for Dawkins. Despite the response, the recordings will unlikely be played in the upcoming trial!
This comes as a huge win for Arizona, and will hopefully settle some of the outside noise regarding the Arizona Basketball team! Either way, it’s just good to get more clarity, and now hopefully we can move on! Bear Down, Arizona!