DECATUR, Ala. – A former Decatur Police officer, Mac Bailey Marquette, entered a not-guilty plea in the shooting death of Stephen Perkins, according to court documents. Marquette waived his arrangement hearing and entered the plea for the murder charge. His court appearance was scheduled for March 4 but he entered the plea prior to that date.
The Morgan County District Attorney’s Office charged Marquette with murder in early January after the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) handed over the investigative file to the office. The Morgan County Sheriff’s Office took Marquette into custody after he turned himself in at the Morgan County Jail on Thursday evening. He was booked on a Grand Jury warrant for murder with a bond set at $30,000, but has since bonded out.
According to Marquette’s personnel file, he applied for a police officer position with the Decatur Police Department in late March 2020 and was given a conditional hiring offer in September 2020. He was certified by the Police Officers Standards and Training Commission in April 2021.
The shooting occurred in the early morning hours of Sept. 29th, following an incident surrounding a vehicle repossession, in which Stephen Perkins was killed by police.
Marquette’s attorney, whose name was not provided in the rewritten article, mentioned that he anticipates the case to move forward as they work to gather sufficient evidence and build their defense.
The next court date for Marquette has not been set, and the case is still under investigation by the Morgan County District Attorney’s Office.