Published Apr 25, 2019
Judge says 'nothing has changed' regarding decision on Miller testifying
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Matt Moreno  •  GOAZCATS
Senior Editor
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@MattRMoreno

Wednesday in federal court the prosecution brought in tape of a secretly recorded meeting in the ongoing college basketball corruption trial this week in New York, and on the tape was Christian Dawkins talking about his relationship with Arizona head coach Sean Miller and former assistant coach Book Richardson. In addition to that he referenced an alleged conversation with Miller about the recruitment of Deandre Ayton that government witness Marty Blazer said on the witness stand he interpreted as a discussion about payments to the eventual No. 1 overall NBA Draft pick.

Because the tape and subsequent discussion of Miller was brought up by the prosecution, Dawkins' attorney Steve Haney planned to file a motion to have presiding judge Edgardo Ramos reconsider his pretrial decision to prohibit the defense from calling both Miller and LSU head coach Will Wade to testify as part of the trial.

At the time Ramos said the coaches' testimony would be "irrelevant" to the current case and, thus, struck down the defense's plan to have the UA take the witness stand.

Thursday, Haney went through with his plan to file a motion to have the judge rethink his decision. However, Ramos said "nothing has changed" in regards to his original decision according to Yahoo! Sports reporter Dan Wetzel.

Ramos encouraged the motion, according to Wetzel, but in the end he decided not to change his original decision meaning at this point Miller will not have to take the witness stand to testify in this trial.

While Miller's name was brought up in the secret video recording played in court Wednesday, there is never any explicit discussion of money being involved. Miller said emphatically back in the spring of 2018 during a press conference that he never discussed paying Ayton to attend Arizona with Dawkins and only met or spoke with him after the UA star announced his intentions to play for the Wildcats.

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