The Alabama Supreme Court ordered a new immunity review for former Decatur officer Mac Marquette in the shooting death of Steve Perkins.

This is not a win on the facts for either side. The justices did not say Marquette was justified, and they did not say he was not. They said the judge measured the claim with the wrong statute. Under Alabama's defense-of-persons law, Marquette's claim is judged the way a layperson's would be, and Judge Elliott now has to weigh it again under that standard. Perkins' family now waits again, three years after his death.

The Alabama Supreme Court on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, sent the murder case against former Decatur police officer Mac Bailey Marquette back to Morgan County Circuit Judge Charles Elliott for a new decision on whether Marquette is immune from prosecution, WAFF reported. The justices ruled that Elliott applied the wrong law, the statute governing a peace officer's use of force, when he denied immunity. The court said the claim must instead be evaluated under Alabama's defense-of-persons statute, WAFF and WZDX reported. The ruling does not dismiss the murder charge.

The Decatur Daily reported that under the high court's ruling, Elliott should view Marquette's actions as if he were a layperson. Elliott held a two-day stand-your-ground hearing in March 2025 and denied immunity on March 31, 2025, according to the defense's own summary of the case as reported by The Decatur Daily. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals declined to intervene in August 2025, and the murder trial was postponed while the defense took the fight to the state Supreme Court. WAFF described the case as having been delayed repeatedly.

Perkins, 39, was shot and killed outside his home on Ryan Drive Southwest in Decatur just before 2 a.m. on Sept. 29, 2023, during an attempted repossession of his pickup truck, The Decatur Daily reported. Repo agent Caleb Combs had told police Perkins pointed a gun at him hours earlier and ordered him off the property. Body camera video released months later shows Marquette and other officers concealing themselves as the tow truck pulled up. Officers confronted Perkins, who was armed with a handgun, near his driveway, and in the seconds that followed Marquette fired 17 rounds, the newspaper reported. The immunity fight has centered on whether officers were lawfully on the property during a private repossession without a court order.

"It's very upsetting. Not what we expected," Perkins' brother, Nick Perkins, told WAFF. "We were hoping that the Supreme Court would have at least ruled in our favor for this part. But the fact that they're sending it back to Judge Elliott is just another bump in the road, actually." Cathleen Walsh, an administrator of the Back Up Mac support page, told WAFF the ruling was "welcome and encouraging news" and "gives Mac another opportunity to have his actions evaluated under the proper legal standard," while acknowledging that "a life was tragically lost that night."

The killing drew sustained demonstrations in Decatur and an outside review of the police department, The Decatur Daily has reported. A gag order bars prosecutors, defense lawyers, Decatur police employees and prospective witnesses from commenting on the case. No new hearing date on the immunity question was reported Friday. Marquette remains charged with murder. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.