A grand jury has indicted a white Alabama former police officer for the fatal shooting of a Black man outside his home after the cop had been called to monitor a dispute between the man and a repossession agent.
The grand jury determined that the evidence presented by Morgan County District Attorney Scott Anderson was sufficient to charge Mac Bailey Marquette, 23, with murder for gunning down Stephen Perkins on Sept. 29, 2023, authorities announced on Jan. 5.
Officers Joey Williams, Vance Summers, and Christopher Mukkadam were working with Marquette on that early morning call in Decatur, Alabama.
While there were a total of four officers at the scene of the shooting, the decision to only charge Marquette was made because he was the sole individual to discharge his weapon during the incident.
Decatur Mayor Tab Bowling terminated three of the officers and placed another on suspension in December 2023, and since then, all of the officers have filed appeals. The hearings to see if the officers can return to their jobs are scheduled from Jan. 30 to Feb. 2.
“There were four officers at the scene when this incident occurred, and there was only one officer who fired any shot,” Anderson said, according to CNN. “After having considered all of the facts and evidence in the case, the grand jury agreed unanimously that there were no violations with regards to the laws of the state of Alabama against any other officer.”
Now, Marquette will stand trial and be held criminally responsible for the loss of the 39-year-old’s life.
Perkins’ vehicle was being repossessed by a towing company when the officers were called to his Decatur house. Repossessions are a civil matter, and under Alabama law, the officers were not allowed to assist the tow truck driver in his effort.
In the initial reports about the incident, officers noted that the confrontation started at 1:30 a.m. and that when they arrived, he was threatening the tow truck driver with his firearm.
The father of two was allegedly brandishing his “handgun” and waved it “towards an officer with the Decatur Police Department,” according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.
The DPD officers on site originally said that Perkins refused to drop his weapon when officers ordered him to do so, and an officer shot him when he turned the gun toward that officer.
That was later determined to be false. Surveillance footage from a neighbor’s Ring doorbell camera from that night indicates that the officers did not identify themselves and instead concealed themselves beside Perkins’ house and across the street upon their arrival at his residence.
The department says differently, admitting that their original account was flawed.
“We now know the officer identified themselves as ‘police’ and ordered Mr. Perkins to ‘get on the ground’ prior to the officer firing rather than ordering him to drop the weapon at that time as we initially reported the morning of the shooting,” Police Chief Todd Pinion wrote on a Facebook post on Oct. 11, 2023.
Within one second of issuing the command to get on the ground, Marquette fired 18 times at Perkins, AL.com reported.
“That means that we also erred in stating Mr. Perkins ‘refused’ to drop his firearm prior to the shooting,” he continued. “I apologize for the inaccurate description of the encounter in our initial statement.”
While Perkins’ family is happy that their journey to justice for their loved one has started, they consider it a “baby step.” They also hope the other officers will face charges for their participation in the events of the night.
“There were four officers involved, and we would like to see all four charged with something,” said Nicholas Perkins, the deceased’s brother.
Following the indictment, Marquette was booked into the Morgan County Jail on Friday morning, the same day the charges were announced. It was a total of 98 days from the time Perkins was killed until he was arrested.
Marquette’s bond was set at $30,000. He posted bail and was released just 36 minutes after being booked, according to the Alabama Political Reporter.
The prosecution is waiting for him to be arraigned and then work to get his trial set.
