MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - Marco Antonio Perez on Monday formally became a condemned man for the murder of a police officer, although a jury already had determined his fate.
Under state law, the jury’s sentencing decision in February in the capital murder case was binding. That made Monday’s hearing a formality, although no less emotional.
Mobile County Circuit Judge Ben Brooks heard from Officer Sean Tuder’s mother, widow and cousin, along with Police Chief Paul Prine.
Uniformed police officers filled several rows on one side of the courtroom, while members of the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office special operations unit sate on the other side.
Tuder’s widow, Krissy, recalled the day the couple married seven years ago.
“I am so glad I have that memory,” she told the judge. “Unfortunately, not even two years later, I experienced the worst day of my life.”
She added: “I’m a shadow of the fun-loving, goofy person I once was, but she died, too.”
Perez was just 19 years old when he left his Theodore home and spent several weeks on the run after skipping out on a pretrial conference in federal court, where he had been brought up on a gun charge.
Tuder was at home on Jan. 20, 2019, when he got a tip that Perez was at the Peach Place Inn apartments off of Jeff Hamilton Road.
Tuder arranged for a friend of Perez to message him through the Snapchat application and tell him that her uncle would come and pick him up. Perez was in the parking lot when Tuder pulled up in his private car, dressed in civilian clothes. The two scuffled, and then Perez drew a gun he had stolen days earlier and shot the officer to death.
Prosecutor Ahsley Rich, who personally handled the case when she was district attorney and kept it even after she left office, told Brooks that execution is just.
“The death penalty is justice in this case because of the way Marco Perez chose to live his life,” she said.
Rich said that life has included assaults and other crimes in Mobile County Metro Jail even after he had been charged with capital murder.
Perez declined to make a statement in court on Monday, and the defense chose not to present any witnesses.
“The state chose to put some people in to testify, and it’s up to them what they want to do, but this is a court of law, and there was nothing to be decided today,” defense attorney Dennis Knizley said outside the courtroom. “So there was no reason for us to or anyone else for that matter to put on anyone.”
Perez faces additional criminal charges, including four theft-related charges and a charge of breaking and entering a vehicle. Those were charges listed in the capital murder indictment related to alleged conduct in the weeks before the shooting. Those charges were not tried during the murder trial. Perez also has several pending charges for incidents that occurred while he was locked up in Mobile County Metro Jail awaiting trial.
The judge set a status hearing on those charges for July. Rich said the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office would make a formal plea bargain offer in writing.
Source:
fox10tv.com, Brendan Kirby, March 18, 2024
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