Alabama AG’s office gets more time to challenge Mac Marquette’s self-defense claims

DECATUR, Ala. (WHNT) — The Alabama Attorney General’s Office, for the second time, requested an extension for filing its reply to self-defense claims submitted by Mac Marquette to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals.

The response was due by June 24, but on Friday, the Attorney General’s Office asked for a three-week extension, citing a busy workload and a new attorney on the case. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals instead gave them two additional weeks to submit the reply.

Marquette, a former Decatur Police Department officer, is charged with the Sept. 29, 2023, shooting death of Stephen Perkins during a botched repossession attempt. Marquette was indicted for murder in early 2024, and his murder trial is currently set for September.

But his attorneys have argued he acted in self-defense that night and the case should be dismissed on those grounds. A hearing on that request was held in February, and the trial court ruled Marquette did not prove Perkins’ shooting death was justified.

Marquette’s attorneys appealed that ruling, arguing Perkins pointed his gun at Marquette before Marquette shot him multiple times. They argue Alabama law allows the use of deadly force when a person faces the threat of deadly force against himself or someone else.  The defense also argues that an Alabama Law Enforcement Agency investigator testified at the self-defense hearing that Perkins was the aggressor that night.

Prosecutors argue that Marquette and other officers who were on the scene that night did not conduct an investigation into the claims by a tow trucker that Perkins pulled a gun on him when he first tried to repossess Perkins’ truck. Prosecutors also pointed out the officers did not go to Perkins’ door and identify themselves before the tow truck driver arrived at the house for a second repossession attempt.

Police body cam and neighbor security footage show that before the truck arrived, the officers fanned out next to and across the street from Perkins’ house. They emerged after Perkins came out of his house and pointed his gun, with a flashlight attachment, at the truck driver.

Body cam footage shows Marquette emerging from the side of Perkins’ house and yelling at him, “Hey, police, get on the ground,” before firing. The video shows the light from Perkins’ gun briefly on Marquette, then pointing upward. The video appears to show Marquette firing within two seconds of his commands to Perkins.

Marquette is being prosecuted by the Morgan County District Attorney’s Office. Appeals in criminal cases in Alabama are handled by the Alabama Attorney General’s Office.

The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals set a July 8 deadline for the State to respond to Marquette’s self-defense arguments.