Court dismisses civil case against three former Decatur officers, city, drops some claims against Marquette

DECATUR, Ala. (WHNT) — A federal judge Tuesday dismissed several claims in the lawsuit filed against three former Decatur Police officers and the city of Decatur over the police shooting death of Stephen Perkins.

The court will allow a civil rights violation claim to move forward against Mac Bailey Marquette, who is also charged with murder in Perkins’ Sept. 29, 2023 death. The court found the Perkins’ family lawyers — at this stage — made a successful argument that Marquette’s use of deadly force was not justified.

“Assuming these facts are true, Officer Marquette would not be entitled to qualified immunity because, when Marquette used deadly force, Perkins was neither trying to leave the scene nor posing a serious threat of physical harm to others,” The court said. “Nor did Marquette warn Perkins that he might use deadly force before he shot him.”

The judge also said the dismissals, including of some claims against Marquette were done “without prejudice” and he will allow the Perkins’ family lawyers to reargue the claims one more time.

In a lengthy decision on Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Corey Maze dismissed the Perkins family lawsuit against former officers Christopher Mukkadam, Joey Williams, Vance Summers, and the City of Decatur.

In explaining the decision to dismiss the wrongful death claim against the city the court said that under the currently known facts argued by the Perkins family’s lawyers, Marquette did not kill Perkins out of negligence.

“The court finds that, if you assume the facts Perkins pleads are true, then the City is entitled to immunity under § 11-47-190 because Marquette didn’t shoot Perkins out of “neglect, carelessness, or unskillfulness,” he intentionally shot Perkins,” Maze wrote.

In the same decision, the court also addressed former Officer Mac Marquette’s claims of qualified immunity in the shooting. The court denied Marquette qualified immunity against the excessive force claim levied against him by the Perkins family but also agreed with Marquette’s contention that the claim can only be made by Stephen Perkins’ estate, not individual family members.

Marquette’s attorneys had asked the court to dismiss all the claims against him.

The court found that Marquette does have qualified immunity for the wrongful death claim made against him. The court dismissed that claim but again without prejudice allowing the family to replead the claim to address any deficiencies.

The court did not address the Perkins family’s claims against the tow truck company involved in the incident. Perkins was shot during an incident surrounding an attempted repossession of his truck.

The family has also filed civil claims against Pentagon, the towing company along with the driver of the tow truck.

Decatur Lead Counsel, David Canupp made a statement saying, “We are pleased with the Court’s decision to grant the City’s motion to dismiss as required by applicable law.”

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