Judge to decide on gag order following hearing in murder case against former Decatur officer

DECATUR, Ala. (WHNT) — A temporary gag order is still in place until Morgan County Circuit Judge Charles Elliott makes a final decision following a lengthy hearing on Friday.

Former Decatur Police Officer Mac Bailey Marquette is charged with the on-duty shooting of Stephen Perkins in his driveway on Sept. 29, 2023. A temporary gag order has been in place in the case since March, but prosecutors want it to be made permanent.

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Friday’s hearing was unusual as 11 top-ranking Decatur Police Department officers, including Chief Todd Pinion, were called to the witness stand and asked if they leaked or otherwise gave access to an investigative video outlining the evidence in the Perkins case.

During the hearing, it was revealed that the leaked video was a summary of the case by the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI). It contained the body camera video, as well as other evidence collected as part of their investigation. SBI shared that video with the district attorney’s office, Decatur Police, and eventually the FBI, according to testimony.

It was leaked in March and published on the 1819 News website a few days after the gag order was put in place.

Every Decatur officer who testified denied leaking or giving access to the video, while being questioned by Morgan County District Attorney Scott Anderson. Anderson has argued the leak of the video could harm Marquette’s right to a fair trial.

Two SBI Agents also testified that they had not leaked the video.

Anderson questioned if the Decatur Police Department had, in any other case, made evidence in the murder case available to be shown to every officer. In a court filing this week, lawyers for the City of Decatur said the police command staff had decided to show officers the video after Marquette was indicted. Several officers testified they thought it was important to show the department’s officers the video. A number of officers said showing the video would help officers who were dealing with rumors and public misinformation, morale issues and “rumors and conjecture from people in the public.”

Chief Pinion testified the video was placed on a thumb drive and the shift-supervisor lieutenants were told to pass it along to the next lieutenant until all officers had a chance to see it in shift meetings. Pinion testified that after the video was leaked he called all of the lieutenants and asked if they’d released it. They all denied doing so, he testified. DA Anderson asked if he talked to the lieutenants about it individually, Pinion said he didn’t do that.

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Anderson also pressed the officers on whether a “chain of custody” protocol was followed in securing the thumb drive. The consistent testimony was that it went from lieutenant to lieutenant, but there was no paper record of who received it or the date they received it.

Prosecutors filed a motion asking for a gag order back in March, arguing the case has been subject to “great pretrial publicity” both in the media and online. Judge Elliott issued a temporary gag order on March 22 until both sides could appear at a hearing on the motion for a permanent gag order.

Today’s hearing got underway around 3:45 p.m. and wrapped shortly before 6:30 p.m.

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Anderson began the hearing by stating on the record that his office was not the source of the leak, that it was under “lock and key.” Decatur Police Chief Todd Pinion also denied sharing the video.

Marquette’s father James also testified. He was questioned about social posts that said the video exonerated his son. He wrote that it showed Perkins pointed a gun at a civilian and officer, that his gun had a flashlight, and that the video showed several points of view. He denied being given a copy of the ALEA video and denied providing anyone else with it.

Decatur Police Lt. Joe Renshaw, denied leaking the video but did admit under questioning that he commented on the case using an alternate name. He declined to say the name, saying he’d used it previously for investigative purposes.

Decatur Police Department Captain Rick Archer testified he did want all the officers to see the video because of the “rampant misinformation” about the shooting that was spreading online. He testified that the video was on a semi-private city server for a couple of days, so the chief could view it remotely.

The captain also testified that Decatur Police leaders expected the DA’s office to release video from the case for several months, including after Marquette’s indictment. The DA’s office said after the indictment it would not release the video, citing concerns about tainting the potential jury pool for Marquette’s trial this fall.

Anderson subpoenaed about 17 witnesses for the gag order hearing on Friday, including Pinion, multiple Decatur police officers, three ALEA State Bureau of Investigation agents and City Councilman Hunter Pepper.

Pepper also denied leaking the video but was chided by the judge due to his comments on the case on social media. Pepper was also questioned about comments he’d made about officer discipline, saying he’d been told the outcome — three of four officers at the shooting scene that night were fired — in advance. Pepper said he’d learned that information from a private citizen.

Attorneys for Marquette opposed the State’s request for a gag order on May 14 and requested they lift the temporary gag order. The defense argues that the proposed gag order is overbroad and would harm their ability to defend Marquette against the murder charge.

After the temporary gag order was put in place in March, the conservative Alabama website 1819 News released what appears to be Marquette’s body camera footage from the night of the Perkins shooting. The website says it is the video that the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) provided to the Morgan County DA’s Office in the Marquette investigation, but it is not clear how they got access to the video. News 19 does not have written permission from the video’s owner to air it, which is required by our parent company.

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