HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — Tuesday was the deadline set by the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals for the prosecution to file its response to the self-defense appeal of former Decatur Police Department Officer Mac Marquette.
But the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, which handles criminal appeals, asked the appeals court for 21 additional days to submit its filing.
Marquette is charged with murder in the on-duty shooting death of Stephen Perkins outside Perkins’ Decatur home in September 2023 during a botched truck repossession. Perkins had reportedly pulled a gun on the truck driver earlier that evening. After that, the driver asked police to escort him, according to testimony at Marquette’s immunity self-defense hearing in March. Testimony also showed officers agreed to go to Perkins’ house, but they did not go to the door or make their presence known.
Security footage from a neighbor’s home shows Marquette hid near the side of Perkins’ house and emerged as Perkins was pointing his gun at the repo truck driver. He yelled “police” and ordered Perkins to get on the ground, body camera footage shows. Perkins turned toward Marquette and the then-officer fired multiple shots within two seconds of issuing the command.
The defense has argued that Marquette was acting in self-defense when he shot Perkins. A Morgan County Circuit Court judge in late March denied Marquette’s self-defense claim, finding that officers were not conducting an investigation at the time of the deadly encounter with Perkins.
Under Alabama law, a person is justified in using deadly force if they have a reasonable belief that deadly force is about to be used against them or someone else. If the trial court had found Marquette acted in self-defense, the murder case would be over.
Marquette appealed the trial court’s ruling to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals in May. In that filing, his lawyers argue Perkins pointed his gun at Marquette, that Marquette feared for his life and that an ALEA investigator found Perkins was the aggressor that evening.
In requesting more time for its response to Marquette’s appeal, the Alabama Attorney General’s Office said it is currently involved in complex cases before the Alabama Supreme Court and the courts of Civil Appeals and Criminal Appeals.
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