Trial date reset for former Decatur officer charged with murder of Stephen Perkins

DECATUR, Ala. (WHNT) — A Morgan County Judge has set a new trial date for a former Decatur police officer charged with murder in the shooting death of Stephen Perkins.

After a brief hearing on Monday, Judge Charles Elliott set a new trial date for former police officer Mac Marquette. He is charged with murder in the on-duty shooting of Perkins in September of 2023.

Marquette will now stand trial on April 7, 2025, with the deadline to file motions in the case set for Jan. 7, 2025. The former officer had been set to go to trial on Nov. 18, but Morgan County District Attorney Scott Anderson asked for that date to be moved back in June.

Anderson asked for the move because his office had several capital murder trials scheduled in the months leading up to the original November date.

The judge granted that motion but did not set the new trial date until the status hearing on Monday.

The Morgan County DA charged Marquette in January after ALEA concluded its investigation into Perkins’ death. He turned himself into the Morgan County Jail, was booked in on a grand jury warrant for murder and was held on a $30,000 bond before bonding out.

Marquette’s personnel file obtained by News 19 shows he applied for a police officer position with the Decatur Police Department in late March 2020 and was given a conditional hiring offer on September 24, 2020. He was certified by the Police Officers Standards and Training Commission in April 2021.

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