State v. Pendergrass

Defendant appeals from his conviction of attempted robbery and sexual intercourse without consent following a jury trial in the District Court of Lewis and Clark County.

Around midnight on June 26, 1977, the lone employee at Terry’s Convenient Mart in Helena, Montana, was finishing her shift. She had let the last customer out the front door, locked it, shut off the outside lights, and was standing at the checkout counter writing a note to her employer. Suddenly, she was grabbed from behind by someone who put his right arm around her waist and his left arm around her shoulder, covering her face…