At the urging of Mayor Tommy Battle, the city council agreed Thursday to pay legal expenses for the Huntsville police officer indicted for murder.

The council voted 4-0 to cover the cost of the criminal defense for William Darby, a second-year officer who shot and killed an armed mentally ill man on April 3. Councilman Will Culver, a former Huntsville police officer, abstained from voting.

Huntsville police determined in its internal review of the shooting of Jeffrey Parker that Darby acted within department policy. Following that ruling, the Madison County district attorney's office presented the case to a grand jury. The indictment was returned Aug. 3.

Video of the shooting was captured by the body cameras of multiple HPD officers. The city of Huntsville has refused a public records request by AL.com to provide a copy of the video.

Battle told AL.com following the council meeting that he has seen the video of the incident.

"As an administration, we wanted to bring that (resolution)," Battle said. "It has been shown through our administration and through our internal affairs, through our shooting review board that what was done was done within policy. It's part of the FBI policy. And being done within policy, if an officer or any employee of the city of Huntsville works within the rules and regulations that we have and they find themselves in a libelous situation - and this is a libelous position - it would cost him thousands and thousands of dollars, which a two-year veteran probably does not have.

"When they set themselves at risk because of what we asked them to do, then we felt like we needed to support him."

District Attorney Robert Broussard, in announcing the indictment last week, said he was "gravely concerned" when he reviewed the investigative file.

"We had concerns that this was not a justified shooting," Broussard told reporters.

Police chief Mark McMurray said Darby is "by no means a murderer."

Culver, who has worked for the city of Huntsville as a police officer as well as chief magistrate for municipal court before being elected to council in 2008, described paying for a police officer's criminal defense as "unprecedented."

He cautioned against "opening the can of worms" of funding the defense of a police officer and said he had concerns about the precedent it would set.

Councilwoman Jennie Robinson said she was concerned about the precedent it would set if the city did not stand behind Darby.

Councilman Devyn Keith amended the resolution, putting a $75,000 cap on the city's expense. Expenditures beyond $75,000 would require approval by the council. The council passed the amendment 4-0 with Culver again abstaining.

Speaking during discussion of the amendment, Battle said, "We need to back (Darby) and we don't need to put a dollar sign on it."

All costs covered by the city must be approved by the city attorney's office, the resolution said.

On the day of the shooting, Parker called police and said he suicidal and had a gun. Officers responded and told Parker to drop the gun, which police said he refused to do. After he refused to drop the gun, Darby shot him, police said.

Darby and two other officers were placed on restricted duty following the shooting but were returned to work following the internal review board's exoneration.

Darby is currently on paid administrative leave.

The resolution approved by the council said that Darby acted "within the line and scope of his duty."

The resolution also said that "funds are needed to employ legal counsel for Officer Darby, a city employee who is believed to have acted honestly and in good faith in his official capacity for the city."

Updated today, Aug. 9, 2018, at 9:11 p.m. with new information throughout.

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