Federal basketball trial: Defense attorney to ask again for Sean Miller testimony

Wiretaps played Wednesday repeatedly mentioned Arizona coach

Less than a week after a federal judge ruled that Arizona Wildcats coach Sean Miller would not be required to testify during the college basketball corruption trial, an attorney for one of the defendants will take a second stab at trying to make that happen.

Per Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports, the attorney for Christian Dawkins—who along with ex-Adidas consultant Merl Code is on trial in New York City on federal bribery counts—believes recent testimony makes it more relevant for Miller to take the stand.

Dawkins atty Steve Haney said since government brought up conversations between Dawkins and Sean Miller, he will file a motion Thursday morning to have Judge Ramos reconsider ruling that barred Miller from being called to testify for the defense.

— Dan Wetzel (@DanWetzel) April 24, 2019

Last Friday judge Edgardo Ramos ruled that Miller’s testimony, including whether he was involved in paying players, would be “irrelevant” to the trial. That may no longer be the case after Miller’s name was brought up repeatedly on wiretaps played in court Wednesday during the testimony of FBI informant Marty Blazer:

Hello again from Manhattan. Wiretaps were played today that brought about a lot of big names in college basketball, most notably, Christian Dawkins talking about Arizona coach Sean Miller.

— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) April 24, 2019

The context of these quotes came via undercover video on a yacht in New York City in June of 2017.

— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) April 24, 2019

Dawkins: "And the the thing with Book, Arizona is like, Sean Miller has to know everything that's going on. I can call Sean and have a conversation like, this is whats going on. Like, this is what's needing to be done. He's very -- like, he'll talk on the phone about ... "

— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) April 24, 2019

At this point, Marty Blazer -- still on the witness stand -- said under direct examination that Dawkins was conveying Miller would "talk about inappropriate things with recruiting, paying the money and those sorts of things."

— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) April 24, 2019

More Marty Blazer from the stand: "Sean Miller was taking care of everything for Deandre Ayton and his family."

— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) April 24, 2019

Dawkins, caught on tap: "I need to talk to Sean because Book uses me. Him and Sean hate each other. It's a weird -- it's like a bad marriage."

— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) April 24, 2019

More Dawkins, conveying what Sean Miller allegedly told him: "I'm taking care of everything myself. I wanna bring you in. I'll turn everything over to you."

— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) April 24, 2019

Dawkins talking about Arizona, linking up with Book Richardson and Deandre Ayton: "If you're gonna fund those kind of guys, man, like, we'd be running college basketball." He is saying this on a yacht to two undercover agents, by the way.

— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) April 24, 2019

Miller has publicly denied any wrongdoing, though since making an emphatic statement as to such in March 2018 he’s been mostly silent. Arizona’s connection to the FBI investigation into college basketball corruption includes the conviction of former assistant coach Emanuel ‘Book’ Richardson, who is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty earlier this year.

from Arizona Desert Swarm - All Posts http://bit.ly/2W7jyEG
via IFTTT