Mardis v. State

Defendant was convicted of robbery in the first degree and sentenced to life without parole.

The State's evidence established that at 7:30 P.M. on July 22, 1981, two white males entered the Carter Hill Drugstore in Montgomery, Alabama, and, at gunpoint, robbed the pharmacist of narcotics and $90 in cash. Three eye-witnesses testified for the prosecution: Mr. Alan Rosenthal, the pharmacist; Mr. William Sanders, the deliveryman; and Mrs. Marsha Jackson, another employee.

At trial, neither Mr. Rosenthal nor Mr. Sanders was able to positively identify the defendant as one of the robbers. Rosenthal…