Cops Kill People: Ex-Alabama Officer Denied Immunity, Murder Trail To Begin Over Fatal Shooting Of Black Man Stephen Perkins
Qualified immunity was a big talking point during the 2020 election and still remains a very relevant issue to this day. The idea that police officers should be immune from criminal charges and personal lawsuits for acts that they commit while in the line of duty is preposterous to say the very least. Protection from accountability and consequences are not professional perks that anyone should be afforded much less those who are allegedly trained to be responsible with a firearm on a daily basis.
Enter, former Decatur, Alabama police officer Mac Marquette. BOSSIP previously reported on an incident in which Marquette gunned down a Black man named Clay Perkins who allegedly used a firearm to threaten a tow truck driver who was attempting to repossess Perkins’ vehicle. At the time, police reported that Perkins “refused” to drop his firearm and turned toward Marquette before being fatally shot. The officer was subsequently arrested and indicted for murder by a grand jury.
According to NBCNews, despite Marquette’s lawyers’ attempt to use “stand your ground” statues get immunity for their client, a judge has denied that motion and the murder trail will commence as planned on June 9.
Morgan County Circuit Judge Charles Elliott denied Marquette’s motion, writing in the court filing that no crime was being committed when officers arrived and that they were not allowed to be involved in a repossession because they did not have a court order.
WHNT notes that Marquette also argued that he was acting in self-defense as a police officer, however, the judge made a very important distinction about that position…
“Agent King has testified that if the defendant was going to Perkins residence to assist Combs in the repossession, then he was acting outside the scope of his employment as a law enforcement officer,” the judge said. “However, if the officers were going to keep the peace, then these two questions are questions of fact that can only be answered by a jury.”
BOSSIP will be keeping a very close eye on this case, with particular regard to the jury selection. A murder case involving an armed Black man and a young white police officer can get very spooky if the “good ol’ boys” get to pressed their antebellum thumbs onto the scales of justice.
The post Cops Kill People: Ex-Alabama Officer Denied Immunity, Murder Trail To Begin Over Fatal Shooting Of Black Man Stephen Perkins appeared first on Bossip.