Attorneys for an Alabama police officer charged with murder in the death of an armed Black man outside his home argued Tuesday their client should be immune from prosecution due to the state’s “stand your ground” law, which allows an individual to use deadly force as long as they can credibly claim their safety was endangered.
Former Decatur, Alabama police officer Mac Marquette, 25, who is white, was accompanying a tow-truck driver to repossess 39-year-old Stephen Perkins’ truck at the victim’s residence, where the fatal confrontation unfolded.
Three other officers — Joey Williams, Vance Summers, and Christopher Mukkadam — were working with Marquette on that early morning call in September 2023.
“There were four officers at the scene when this incident occurred, and there was only one officer who fired any shot,” Morgan County District Attorney Scott Anderson said in regard to the murder charge.
Marquette and the other officers were dispatched to help Caleb Combs after he called the police to report Perkins for allegedly pointing a gun at his chest when Combs tried to repossess his truck. Combs, who was authorized by Perkins’ creditor to repossess the truck, told police he wanted to retry the seizure but said he “would not go back alone.”
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