Jan. 10—Attorneys for Mac Marquette, the former Decatur police officer charged with murder in the Sept. 29, 2023, shooting death of Steve Perkins, asked Tuesday for all matters in the case, including the trial, to be delayed pending a “stand your ground” immunity hearing.
“The (murder) charge stems from an on-duty shooting of an armed suspect, Stephen Perkins, in an incident wherein the suspect pointed a handgun at a tow-truck driver and the Defendant. Perkins died as a result of the shooting,” Marquette’s Birmingham-based attorneys, Brett Bloomston and Elizabeth Young, wrote in the motion.
“The Defendant and his fellow officers took various positions around Perkins’ residence to observe the situation and to protect the tow-truck driver. … The Defendant, who was located behind the vehicle that was to be repossessed, saw Perkins and clearly saw him pointing a weapon at the tow-truck driver. The Defendant then reacted to the threat posed by Perkins by yelling and identifying himself as police and giving him a loud verbal command to drop the weapon. Instead of dropping the weapon as instructed, Perkins turned and pointed the gun directly at the Defendant. In fear for his life and the lives of others, the Defendant fired his duty weapon to eliminate the deadly threat.”
The motion’s narrative conflicts with video recordings of the incident — by police bodycams and neighbors’ security cameras — that show Perkins was not ordered to drop his weapon until after Marquette fired 18 rounds at him.
“Hey, hey! Police! Get on the ground!” Marquette yelled at Perkins at 1:49:04 a.m. on Sept. 29, according to bodycam video. Marquette fired the first shot at 1:49:05 a.m.
Decatur police Chief Todd Pinion previously apologized for erroneously stating that Perkins had been ordered to drop his weapon before an officer opened fire.
The motion for an immunity hearing and dismissal was one of nine motions filed Tuesday afternoon in a case that has remained mostly quiet since a May 2024 gag order hearing that resulted in Circuit Judge Charles Elliott ordering the involved parties, the Decatur Police Department and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency to refrain from making extrajudicial comments about the case.
The gag hearing came after an apparent ALEA video presentation — an edited compilation of bodycam video, including Marquette’s, which depicted the shooting — was leaked to an online conservative blog. At the hearing, Decatur police Capt. Rick Archer testified that police command staff felt Morgan County District Attorney Scott Anderson had misrepresented the facts of the case. Decatur police denied leaking the video.
Following Perkins’ death, Decatur saw near-daily protests until Anderson announced on Jan. 5, 2024, that a grand jury had unanimously returned a murder indictment for Marquette. Around two dozen or more nonviolent demonstrators have been arrested in interactions with Decatur police and charged with disorderly conduct in the past 15 months.
Marquette, whose jury trial is scheduled to begin on April 7, has pleaded not guilty. His attorneys on Tuesday asked for the trial to be delayed until Marquette “has a full and fair hearing on his claim of immunity pursuant to Alabama’s stand your ground law.”
The law allows deadly force to be used in specific circumstances, such as when a person reasonably believes another person is about to use unlawful deadly force. The statute does not apply if the person who uses deadly force is acting unlawfully, or if the person against whom deadly force is used is the lawful resident of a dwelling.
If the defendant does not meet the burden of proving criminal immunity at a “stand your ground” hearing, he may still pursue a self-defense strategy at trial, in which case the state continues to bear the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Decatur police and Marquette’s attorneys allege that police responded to Perkins’ residence after Perkins had threatened the tow truck driver with a gun during an earlier repossession attempt of Perkins’ vehicle that evening.
“A Decatur police officer was dispatched to meet the tow-truck driver at the driver’s business address,” the attorneys’ motion reads. The business has been named in a civil suit as Allstar Recovery, which operated a lot at 3920 Poole Valley Road S.W., less than a mile from Perkins’ home on Ryan Drive Southwest.
“The Defendant was subsequently called as backup to the responding officer and drove to the tow truck business,” the motion continues. “The tow-truck driver requested an escort back to Perkins’ residence to avoid any violent confrontation … . The Defendant’s supervisor and several other officers accompanied the driver back to Perkins’ residence with an intent to ensure the safety of the driver and to investigate a menacing charge.”
The motion argues Marquette was lawfully fulfilling his duties as a police officer and was acting in defense of himself, his fellow officers and the tow truck driver when he fired his duty weapon. — Threats
Marquette’s attorneys also moved for the state to disclose “any threatened sanctions made against any witness to secure that individual’s testimony at trial and/or any statement inculpating or tending to inculpate the Defendant.”
The defense is seeking to find out if any witness “not initially disposed to give testimony” was threatened with sanction by the state and who still refuses to testify on behalf of the state.
The witness list in the case file, as of Tuesday, includes Decatur police command staff and the officers or former officers who also responded to Perkins’ residence the night he was killed: Vance Summers, Christopher Mukaddam and Joey Williams. Of the four who responded to the scene, including Marquette, three have since been terminated by the city. The fourth was briefly suspended and has not been identified by the city.
The defense asked the court to compel the disclosure of any records showing “prior misconduct or bad acts” committed by witnesses for the state.
The defense also asked for the disclosure of any agreements between the state and its witnesses, including the disclosure of any possible pending prosecutions, if any, that the state has agreed to withhold in order to secure the cooperation of witnesses.
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Jury questionnaire
Marquette’s attorneys moved for a written jury questionnaire to be used in the jury selection process, arguing that a questionnaire “provides a less threatening and/or embarrassing method for jurors to provide information concerning their personal backgrounds.”
The defense argued that a questionnaire will also speed up the jury selection process and is the most effective method to screen for exposure to pretrial publicity.
“The pretrial publicity in this matter has been particularly widespread, fierce and negative, so that the need for a jury questionnaire is of even greater importance,” the attorneys wrote. — Similar acts
The defense is also seeking to learn whether the state plans to introduce evidence of “prior alleged similar acts relating to the Defendant” at trial, according to a motion.
Should the state plan to introduce such evidence, the defense is asking for an itemized list and additional discovery.
The defense also moved for the state to provide written summaries of expert testimony the state intends to use at trial, including the basis and reasons for the experts’ opinions.
The defense requested the names and contact information of any experts consulted by the state whose opinions are contrary to the opinions belonging to experts the state intends to use.
On Wednesday, Anderson moved for permission to inspect the curriculum vitae of any expert the defense intends to call as a witness at trial.
In another motion, Marquette’s attorneys wrote that they expect the state will offer “numerous color photographs taken of the deceased” as evidence and asked the court to read cautionary instructions to the jury ahead of viewing such photographs.
The motion included the suggested instructions, which caution the jury that “some persons might consider these pictures to be gruesome,” and jurors “may not return a verdict based on passion or prejudice.”
On Thursday, Elliott ordered the matter of photograph instructions to be deferred until trial.
— david.gambino@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2438.