Decatur, hall. – An Alabama judge listened on Tuesday a contradictory testimony about the video of the recently released body chamber that captured the moments before a police officer fatally triggered a black man armed outside his home, in a case that highlights the complex legal questions that arise after police shootings in states with laws of “staying firm” and a generalized property of weapons.
Mac Marquette, 25, is accused of fatally murder shooting Steve Perkins Just before 2 in the morning of September 29, 2023, while accompanying a towing truck driver to recover Perkins’s truck at his home in Decatur, Alabama. The recently released video seems to confirm the testimony of the officer that Perkins pointed to Marquette with a weapon. But an expert in application of the law that investigated the shooting says that Marquette also had the opportunity to decline the situation to avoid violent confrontation.
The judge of the Circuit Court Charles Elliot heard arguments on Tuesday about whether Marquette should be protected from Alabama’s prosecution “Put well” The law, which gives immunity to prosecution to anyone who uses the deadly force, provided they are in a place that they have the right to be and reasonably believe that it is in danger.
Remain the laws of your land They have proliferated at the national level after Trayvon Martin’s fatal shooting in 2012, generating debate on race, laws of weapons and self -defense. More than 30 states have some form of law, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Marquette was one of the three officers who was sent to help Caleb combs after he called the police to inform Perkins for aiming a gun to his chest when Comps tried to recover Perkins’s truck. Comink, who was authorized by Perkins’s creditor to recover the truck, said he wanted to try again but said “he wouldn’t come back alone.”
The three officers were out of view from the main door of Combs and Perkins when Comps returned to Perkins’ house with their tow truck, according to the video of the body of the body. Marquette and another officer, Joey Williams, stopped to the side of the house.
When Comps tried to recover Perkins’s truck for the second time, Perkins left his house shouting: “Drop My Truck” with expletives, said combs.
The lawyers trusted a beam cast for a tactical light linked to the Perkins gun to identify where he pointed his gun when he left his house for the second time. The beam seemed to indicate that Perkins pointed his gun to the combs tow truck.
The videos of two of the two of the chambers of the officers’ body show Marquette surrounding the corner to confront Perkins. In seconds, Perkins pointed to Marquette, who shouted “the police, put on the floor” and fired almost instantly approximately 17 bullets, killing Perkins.
Just before Marquette opened fire, the video of the Mukkadam body chamber seems to show the light of Perkins’ weapon pointing up against his house, far from Marquette. The prosecutors said they indicated that Perkins tried to lift his arms in surrender before being killed.
Judge Elliot did not review the video of the Marquette Body Chamber.
Perkins did not shoot bullets, but his weapon was found with a “depressed trigger,” King testified. King said it is not clear when the trigger was thrown and that the camera was empty.
“That was the most scared I have been,” Marquette said in an interview that gave the investigators immediately after the shooting, according to an audio recording reproduced in the court.
King said the officers had “reasonable beliefs that Perkins was going to use the mortal force” and that they had to make a quick decision. But he also questioned why the officers were there first, and said there were other police tactics that would have avoided the situation completely.
Creditors do not need a judge to authorize the recovery of a vehicle if a person does not pay loans. But Alabama’s law requires a court order if there is a “breach of peace” in the initial attempt to seize the vehicle, and the police are prohibited from helping recovery without the authorization of a judge.
All witnesses agreed that there was a violation of peace when ComBs initially tried to confiscate Perkins’s truck.
Mukkadam and Williams testified that they were not helping with recovery, which would violate Alabama’s law, but provided a “civil escort” that became routinely to “maintain peace.”
Marquette’s defending lawyer, Liz Young, said the officers were forced to go to Perkins’ house.
“If you send you to a call, you have no choice but to go,” said Young.
King said the officers “exceeded the scope” of their responsibilities because they did not have a court order to authorize the seizure of the vehicle. King said that the tactics that the three officers used were “unusual” and generally reserved for “active crimes scenes.”
“To maintain peace, it needs the presence of an officer, and the presence of the officers means that an officer had to be visible,” King said.
The audience comes after Two years of intense Conflict and protest for the death of Perkins in the city of northern Alabama of approximately 60,000 people.
Perkins’s wife and mother left while playing the video of the camera of the shooting body. More than 100 people filled the courtroom on Tuesday. Some with shirts that said “Back the Blue” sat on the banks behind Marquette. On the other side of the hall, others wore shirts that said “#iamsteveperkins” and sat behind the Perkins family.
Elliot will listen to arguments on both sides on Wednesday. If he denies the immunity of the former officer, Marquette’s trial will begin on April 7.
