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Associated Press
09-05-2025
- Associated Press
Alabama ex-officer insists he had 'stand your ground' right when he shot an armed Black man
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A former Alabama police officer who shot an armed Black man is trying to win back his claim to self-defense before his upcoming murder trial, and appealed a judge's pretrial decision as a 'gross abuse of discretion.' The appeal hinges on Alabama's ' stand your ground ' law, which grants immunity from prosecution to anyone who uses deadly force as long as they reasonably believe they're in danger and are somewhere they're rightfully allowed to be. Mac Marquette, 25, is charged with murder in the fatal shooting of Steve Perkins shortly before 2 a.m. in September 2023. Marquette and two other officers were accompanying a tow-truck driver to repossess Perkins' pickup truck at his home in Decatur. When Perkins emerged from his house with a gun, Marquette fired 18 bullets less than two seconds after identifying himself as law enforcement, according to body camera footage. Court documents filed on Thursday said the judge erroneously ruled against Marquette based on his assessment that Marquette didn't sufficiently prove he had a right to be on Perkins' property. Alabama allows judges to determine if someone acted in self defense before a case goes to trial. The judge said Alabama law requires a court order for law enforcement to be involved in a vehicle repossession — which the officers didn't have. Marquette's lawyers say the judge should have given more weight to the fact that Perkins pointed his gun at the officer before he was shot. They say Marquette reasonably felt that running away from Perkins would've put him in more danger than standing his ground. The defense also says the officers had a legitimate reason to be there, based on the 'custom, pattern, and practice of the Decatur Police Department' and because their supervisor authorized it. Both officers who were with Marquette testified they weren't there to assist in the repossession, but were instead there to 'keep the peace' and to 'investigate' Perkins for pulling a gun on the tow-truck driver in an earlier repossession attempt. The state agent who investigated Perkins' death testified in March that the way that the officers set up wasn't standard for either of those tasks, but also said that Marquette had a reason to fear for his life. All parties in the case are prohibited from speaking to the media. The hearing comes on the heels of two years of intense protest about Perkins' death in the northern Alabama city of approximately 60,000 people. A Black man experiencing a mental health crisis died in Decatur Police Department custody in April. Body camera footage showing police officers punching and tasing him repeatedly reignited debate over police misconduct in the area. Marquette's attorneys requested a postponement of the trial originally set for June, and a chance to present oral arguments in front of the Alabama Criminal Court of Appeals. ___ Riddle is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
The Hindu
23-04-2025
- The Hindu
U.S. man, hospitalised after police punched and shocked him during arrest, dies in Alabama
John Scott Jr., a 41-year-old Black man who was hospitalised for a week following an arrest in which Alabama police shocked him with a Taser and punched him, died on Tuesday (April 22), Law Enforcement said. It is not yet clear what caused him to die, or if his arrest is related. The uncertainty has reignited anger in Decatur, a northern Alabama city divided by the ongoing trial of a white officer, Mac Marquetter, charged with murder for fatally shooting a Black man, Steve Perkins, in 2023. A police statement did not specify the names or races of the officers involved in Scott's arrest. 'Here we go again. We stated that this was going to happen again, based on what happened when Steve Perkins died. They shifted the police chief, but they got the same players still playing the game,' said Rodney Gordon, president of the local National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) chapter, referring to the recent resignation of the Decatur police chief. 'How can you not change the officers and expect different results?' The statement by interim police Chief Nadis Carlisle said he has called for the state and the FBI to investigate and asked for patience while the investigation is ongoing. Scott was arrested April 15 after his mother called the police to her residential street because she feared that her son had stopped taking his medication and was experiencing a mental health crisis. Officers had responded to a call the mother made earlier in the day and contacted the department's mental health liaison, who determined that he was not a threat to himself or others, so they left, according to the police statement. At least five officers who arrived after the second call encouraged Scott to go to the hospital with emergency medical responders, shows a 28-minute body camera video later released by the police department. The video shows Scott standing without shoes at the door of the ambulance appearing confused, sweating profusely and taking deep breaths. He repeatedly shakes the officers' hands, thanks them and tries to joke with them. There was a warrant for Scott's arrest based on failure to appear in court, according to arresting officers in the video and a statement from the police chief. Neither specified what the initial charges were. Scott failed to appear in court for a speeding ticket in 2021, according to Alabama's electronic court database. When Scott refused to go into the ambulance, officers began to arrest him. The video shows Scott starts to panic as officers attempt to pull his hands behind his back. 'Hold on. We all in this together,' Scott says, taking repeated deep breaths. 'Hold on. I might get hurt, sir." The video shows the officers punching Scott and shocking him with a Taser after he falls to the ground and continues to refuse to put his arms behind his back. Scott can be heard screaming 'I'm sorry' repeatedly, at one point complaining that he couldn't breathe when one officer kneels on his back. Laying in the back of the police car, Scott appears to try to spit at officers, who then put a hood over his head. Approximately an hour after he arrived at the county jail, he started 'exhibiting signs of medical distress,' according to the police statement. He was taken to a hospital where he remained for a week before his mother and police both announced his death Tuesday (April 22) morning. Before Scott died, the police department said it was possible he was hospitalised for 'excited delirium" a condition that has been debunked by science organisations for years. The city of approximately 60,000 has been roiled with protest since former Decatur police officer Mac Marquette fatally shot Steve Perkins in his own front yard. Hundreds of supporters for both Perkins and Mr. Marquette have attended the officer's ongoing murder trial.
