Alabama police shooting protester must ‘cease protesting,’ judge rules
A vocal protester against the Decatur police shooting death of Stephen Perkins “must cease all protesting” as part of her bond conditions in a Madison County case, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Alainah Dailey was protesting near Decatur Mayor Tab Bowling’s house last month when an officer arrested her for disorderly conduct.
She spent 27 days in the Morgan County jail before pleading guilty. The judge in the case had denied her bond because the arrest violated the terms of her release on probation for a 2022 4th-degree misdemeanor theft charge in Decatur.
Decatur Municipal judge Takisha Gholston sentenced her to time served at the hearing on March 5 for the probation violation and a 90-day suspended sentence with 24 months of unsupervised probation for the disorderly conduct charge related to the protest at Bowling’s house, The Decatur Daily reported.
Meanwhile, after her disorderly conduct arrest in February for her protest at the Decatur mayor’s house, the Madison County District Attorney’s office also asked a judge to revoke Dailey’s bond related to two other unrelated charges in Madison County last year—third-degree escape and DUI—that are both pending a grand jury decision.
On Tuesday, Madison County District Judge Ronald Smith heard the motion to revoke Dailey’s bond.
Dailey “committed a new offense while out on bond, which is, you know, one of the conditions of your bond is that you’re not committing any new offenses,” Maggie Wallace, Madison County deputy district attorney, told AL.com on Tuesday.
Judge Smith decided to allow Dailey to stay out on bond under some conditions, including electronic monitoring, Wallace said. “The conditions are similar to what her conditions are with probation in the city of Decatur, that she cease all protesting.”
Dailey’s attorney, Andrew Segal, said Dailey would not grant interviews to reporters after the hearing.
Alainah Dailey, speaking with her lawyer, Andrew Segal before her bond revocation hearing on March 19, 2024.Kayode Crown
Dailey spent seven days in the Madison County jail after serving 27 days in the Morgan County Jail.
Court records show Wallace had filed the motion to revoke Dailey’s bond on Feb. 12—three days after her arrest in Decatur—and that she be held pending the Madison County trial. Judge Smith granted the request Feb. 16 and she was arrested immediately by a Madison County deputy when she was released from the Morgan County jail on March 5.
Segal then asked Judge Smith for an expedited bond hearing. “The defendant is also the primary caregiver of two young children approximate ages two and three,” Segal wrote to the court. “The defendant has a full scholarship which she will lose if she is not released from jail prior to this Sunday, March 17, 2024.”
Smith on March 12 allowed Dailey to be released from jail with an ankle monitor under the county’s Supervised Electronic Detention Program pending this week’s bond hearing.
At Tuesday’s bond revocation hearing, Wallace told Judge Smith that if he wasn’t going to put Dailey back in jail there should be an additional condition besides electronic monitoring. “For one, she should cease protesting in the City of Decatur,” she told the judge.
AL.com asked Wallace why she requested that Dailey not protest. She said it was for Dailey’s own good.
Protesting “led to her past criminal activity,” she said. Wallace added that the additional bond requirement was “just a precursor for her to stay out of trouble.”
Protests have rocked Decatur since the Sept. 29 police shooting death of Stephen Perkins, a father, husband and gym enthusiast. A Decatur police officer shot him in his front yard about 2 a.m. after he came out of the house and asked for a tow truck driver, attempting to repossess his vehicle, to put it down.
Police said Perkins had pulled a gun on the tow truck driver when he was there about midnight. The officers followed the two truck drivers back to Perkins’ house more than one hour later and video showed they apparently stationed themselves near the property with no lights on on their police cars.
Video footage released by the family and posted to social media showed Perkins come out of his home with a bright light about 2 a.m. and told the tow truck driver to put down his vehicle. On the video a police officer appears to emerge from a dark corner near the house, shouting “Hey, hey, police, get on the ground.” The officer immediately fired multiple rounds, the video shows.
The family has sued four Decatur police officers in federal court for their involvement in Perkins’ death. The City fired three officers and placed one on administrative leave.
One of the officers, Bailey Marquette is facing a murder charge in Perkins’ killing following his grand jury indictment in January. The case is pending in court.