One of the police officers involved in the fatal 2023 shooting of Steve Perkins outside his Decatur, Alabama, home was denied his request for the case to be dismissed.
Mac Marquette, 25, who is charged with murder, had his motion dismissed by Morgan County Circuit Judge Charles Elliott. His trial is set to start in June, but Marquette can appeal the decision with the state appellate court.
The former Decatur, Alabama, police officer was charged for an incident that took place in the early morning hours of Sept. 29, 2023. Camera footage revealed that Marquette fired 18 bullets within seconds of announcing himself as a police officer to Steve Perkins. He and two other police officers were there to repossess Perkins’ vehicle.
Elliott ruled that Marquette did not prove that his actions were in self-defense. Instead, a jury would have to consider whether the former officer was “acting in his capacity as a police officer” when he shot Perkins in front of his home.
“It is on this hinge that the door of this case swings,” Elliott said.
The tow truck driver, Caleb Combs, had gone to Parker’s home to repossess Perkins’ truck because it was believed that he was behind on his loan. When Combs initially went to Perkins’ place, Perkins allegedly pointed a gun at the tow truck driver. Combs alerted the police. Three officers (who were all fired after this incident) returned with him to try to complete the repossession. But Elliott said Marquette was not authorized to assist Combs. Alabama law requires a court order to involve law enforcement in a repossession, which the officers didn’t have.
Body cam footage showed Marquette unloading all the bullets in his gun less than two seconds after approaching Perkins from the side of the house where he was hiding.
The judge said the officers should have told Combs “that he could take whoever he wanted with him to assist with the repossession, but it could not be law enforcement without judicial process.” The other officers with Marquette, Joey Williams and Christopher Mukadam, testified that they accompanied Combs to “keep the peace” and to “investigate” Perkins for allegedly drawing a gun on Combs.
A state agent who investigated the case testified that it is standard for officers to accompany tow truck drivers in such a situation. But he admitted that police officers have to be visible to keep the peace. Officers hiding is a method typically “used for an active crime scene.”
Elliott said that since there was no active crime scene when they arrived, Marquette was “acting outside of the scope of his authority” to investigate a menacing allegation “and was therefore a trespasser.”
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