DECATUR, Ala. — In a ruling filed Friday, the judge overseeing the Mac Marquette murder trial made a gag order precluding all parties involved from speaking with the media, expanding on an original order issued earlier this year. This comes following evidence provided in the May 17 hearing in which at least one member of the Decatur Police Department, Lt. Joe Renshaw, admitted to replying to Facebook posts discussing the Steve Perkins Shooting and subsequent fallout.
It was also revealed that body cam footage from the Sept. 29 incident was given to Huntsville Police Department for the purposes of editing, with no clear chain of custody detailing who had access to the video at any given time. Councilman Hunter Pepper was also lectured on his behavior on social media from the judge.
In part, Judge Charles Elliott wrote: "Therefore, until this case is concluded or the order is modified, the Defendant, his attorney(s), the State and its attorney(s) including employees of the Decatur Police Department or Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, are restricted from making any public extrajudicial comments regarding any evidence in the case, the knowledge of which was gained in their professional capacity.
"This includes information gained through the discovery process or in the investigation of this offense by [ALEA] and [DPD}," the order continues to state. "Furthermore, any witness that is or has been under subpoena to testify regarding any issue in this case, is also precluded from making any extrajudicial comments about the case in public or on any social media platform."
Our original reporting of the May 17 gag order hearing appears as follows:
5/17 6:20 P.M.: The temporary gag order will remain in place until the judge can examine all evidence presented in Friday's hearing. The judge said this process may take several days. Thus, a reconvene date has not been set.
6:05 P.M.: A lieutenant with the Decatur internal affairs department testifies that they shared the body cam video with a videographer with the Huntsville Police department for the purposes of "editing the video due to graphic content." Council member Hunter Pepper was also on the stand, where the judge took Pepper to task for his own commentary on the Perkins fallout on Facebook.
4:55 P.M.: Lt. Joe Renshaw admits in court to using a fake name to make comments on the case in Facebook replies, in response to questioning from prosecutors.
4:50 P.M.: James Marquette, Mac's father, testifies that he made a social media post about the body cam video on Feb. 13, but claims he didn't actually see the video until a month later.
4:20 P.M.: FOX54's Ken McCoy reports that Decatur Police Chief Todd Pinion was questioned about the body cam video that was leaked and released by another media outlet as part of Friday's hearing regarding a gag order in the Mac Marquette murder trial.
According to an affidavit by Captain Rick Archer, a copy of the video was placed on a thumb drive and lieutenants were instructed to show it internally for training purposes.
"The chain of custody of the thumb drive was to be maintained," Archer said in the affidavit.
Pinion said he was unaware of there being any alterations to the video, though ALEA officials have testified there were changes made to the leaked version, including to the audio content.
Mayor Tab Bowling and Decatur City Councilmen Jacob Ladner and Carlton McMasters were reportedly the only city officials shown the video. Pinion was asked by the state if there was any documentation or log kept of the video as it was shown internally. Pinion replied that "there was not." Asked if there was a chain of custody to a similar log on previous cases, Pinion answered that there was.
3:30 P.M. - A hearing is underway in Decatur, where the status of a gag order placed on the Mac Marquette trial and its participants is under review. The hearing was originally scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Friday but was pushed to 3:15 p.m. after delays with other items on the court docket.
Marquette is the former Decatur officer who fired the shots which killed resident Steve Perkins the night of September 29, 2023, during police intervention over a towing dispute.
A temporary gag order was issued, and Morgan County District Attorney Scott Anderson seeks to make the order permanent. In documents filed earlier by Anderson, the gag order was requested "in an effort to protect the integrity of this case and to ensure a fair and impartial trial."
A list of witnesses compiled ahead of the murder trial, currently set for November 18, lists 17 Decatur law enforcement officials, Decatur City Council member Hunter Pepper, and others. Anderson has said the subpoenas may help determine who leaked body cam footage from the shooting to another media outlet.
Marquette's attorneys argue that a permanent gag order would hamper his defense. Previous motions made by Decatur city attorneys to quash the subpoenas were denied Thursday, according to court documents. City attorneys argued that public safety at the Third Friday street festival scheduled for today could be at risk if the number of police command staff currently subpoenaed were to be in court at the same time.