An Alabama appeals court has upheld a Mobile County judge’s ruling that overturned the capital murder conviction of a former state trooper, clearing the way for a possible new trial in a case that dates back nearly two decades.
The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed a decision by Mobile County Circuit Judge Robert Smith, who had found that prosecutors failed to turn over key evidence supporting the defendant’s claim of innocence. The former trooper, George Martin, was convicted in 2000 in connection with the 1995 death of his wife, who died in a car fire along Willis Road in the Tillman’s Corner area of Mobile County.
The case had an unusual path through the justice system. The Mobile County District Attorney’s Office reviewed the matter but declined to prosecute, so the Alabama Attorney General’s Office took it over, secured an indictment and won a conviction in May 2000. Two months later, the trial judge overrode the jury’s sentencing recommendation and imposed a death sentence.
In his ruling, Judge Smith concluded that the state had withheld evidence that could have helped the defense. Among the details, a prosecution witness who reported seeing a large man in a trooper’s uniform near the scene had initially pointed to a different person in a photo array, and had described the man as someone who “filled up the car.” Martin, the defense noted, stands only 5 feet 6 inches tall. According to the ruling, the state also never disclosed that the witness, shown photos of all 13 Black troopers assigned to the Mobile post at the time, had drawn an arrow to a different officer.
Dennis Knizley, who represented Martin at the 2000 trial, welcomed the appellate decision. “I’m happy for George, happy for his family,” he said, adding that he had not yet been asked to represent Martin at a retrial but would be glad to do so. “There was evidence in that case that just was not turned over,” Knizley said, arguing that the odds of an acquittal at a new trial would be considerably stronger.
The Attorney General’s Office did not immediately say whether it would seek further review. Its options included asking the appeals court to reconsider or petitioning the Alabama Supreme Court.
The ruling made Martin the second Mobile County death row inmate in as many years to win a new trial. The year before, a different judge had overturned another capital murder conviction, in a case prosecutors said they intended to retry.