Brad Perry Murder: DNA on a Dollar Bill Convicts Glenn Griffin

The Brad Perry murder was solved in 2005 when DNA extracted from a blood-stained dollar bill linked Glenn Howard Griffin, then imprisoned in California, to the 1984 killing of the 22-year-old gas station clerk at the Perry Texaco Short Stop in Box Elder County, Utah. Griffin was convicted of first-degree murder in 2008 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The Utah Supreme Court upheld that sentence in 2016.¹

What Happened on May 26, 1984

Bradley Newell Perry was working the graveyard shift at the Texaco Short Stop on U.S. 89 just south of Brigham City. According to a statement co-defendant Wade Garrett Maughan later gave police, Griffin walked in, bought a beer, and argued with Perry over his change. When Perry said he was going to call the police, Griffin hit him with the telephone, then grabbed a screwdriver and stabbed him.² Perry was tied up with an electrical cord, beaten, and stabbed to death. The robbery took less than $100.³

Around 4 a.m., two Utah State University students pulled in for gas. The man behind the counter looked shaky, had blood on his clothes, and had scratches and bruises on his arms. One of the students, Bassem Braish, noticed a fresh bloodstain on the dollar bill he was given as change.² That bill was preserved as evidence. It would sit in storage for more than two decades.

Why the Case Went Cold

Modern DNA testing did not exist in 1984. Investigators collected fingerprints, hair, and blood from the scene, and the state crime lab examined the stained dollar bill, but blood at that time could only be typed as human or non-human.⁴ A composite sketch of a bearded suspect went out, and over the years investigators looked at roughly 200 to 300 potential suspects.⁵ Griffin was not among them.

The longtime person of interest was Craig Lee Martinez, a 15-year-old neighbor of Perry’s. A witness named Steven Wells claimed he had seen Martinez in a blood-covered shirt that night, and a friend of Martinez implicated him in inconsistent statements.³ DNA testing later excluded him, and prosecutors noted he did not match the physical description the students had given.⁶ Martinez was convicted of burglarizing Perry’s home on the day of Perry’s funeral, but police concluded that crime was unrelated to the murder.

Box Elder County Sheriff’s Sgt. Scott Cosgrove reopened the file in 1997 as forensic science advanced. In 2000, he convened a panel of DNA and fingerprint experts along with representatives from the Utah Attorney General’s Office; they unanimously identified two primary suspects. Cosgrove tracked down the two former students who had stopped for gas, and in 2001 announced a $10,000 reward. By September 2003 he said every lead was exhausted and formally handed the case to the county attorney’s office.⁷

How DNA on a Dollar Bill Solved the Case

In 2005, the state crime lab extracted DNA from the bloodstain on the preserved dollar bill and ran the profile through the national criminal DNA database. It matched Glenn Howard Griffin, a former Logan, Utah, sheet metal worker then incarcerated in a California prison.⁸ Mitochondrial DNA testing on hair collected at the scene excluded 99.94 percent of the population as the donor, but could not exclude Griffin.³

Griffin was charged with first-degree murder and aggravated robbery in Utah’s 1st District Court and extradited from California. Maughan was arrested in Spokane, Washington, in November 2005.⁴ Cosgrove told reporters the case was solved “because of technology” after 21 years. Brad Perry’s younger brother, Lee Perry, a Utah Highway Patrol lieutenant, said the identification “actually brings closure to our family.”⁸

The Trial and Conviction of Glenn Howard Griffin

Griffin’s capital murder trial began on October 29, 2008, in Utah’s First District Court in Logan before Judge Ben Hadfield. Randall Richards represented him.⁹ The prosecution’s case rested on three pillars: the DNA match from the dollar bill, the mitochondrial DNA from hair at the scene, and testimony from a fellow inmate, Benjamin Britt, who said Griffin had confessed to the murder while they were jailed together.³ Jurors also heard that Perry had been tied up and tortured before he died.

The defense attacked the DNA evidence through expert witness Dr. James Gaskill, who testified that DNA transfers easily and that paper currency is particularly good at picking up biological fluids. Gaskill said he had detected DNA on two of six bills he collected at random.³ Britt countered with testimony that Griffin told him Perry “must have bitten him” during the struggle, offering an explanation for how Griffin’s blood reached the bill.⁶

The jury convicted Griffin of capital homicide in November 2008. On December 10, 2008, Judge Hadfield signed the order sentencing him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The hearing took only a few minutes. Perry’s father, Newell Perry, told the court, “We have never seen him show any remorse.” His sister Nanette Perry Wharton said Griffin “smiled as if he had cared less” when the verdict was read. His mother, Claudia Perry, said she had not known until trial that her son had been tied up and tortured.⁹

What Happened to Wade Garrett Maughan

Maughan was charged with capital murder for his alleged role. He had confessed to involvement multiple times in writing and in conversations with police and friends.¹⁰ Prosecutors granted him use immunity to testify against Griffin, but he refused to comply with multiple court orders and was charged with obstruction of justice.¹¹

After prosecutors failed to secure the death penalty against Griffin, the capital murder charge against Maughan was reduced to second-degree murder. His attorney, Richard Mauro, argued that police had coerced the confessions by threatening Maughan with the death penalty and feeding him case details. On June 15, 2010, a jury of eight women and one man acquitted him after nearly six hours of deliberation.¹⁰

The Appeal That Upheld the Conviction

Griffin challenged his conviction on several grounds, principally ineffective assistance of counsel. In January 2015, the Utah Supreme Court temporarily sent the case back to the trial court to develop the record on three claims.³ Griffin alleged that attorney Shannon Demler, brought in to cross-examine Britt, had a conflict of interest from previously representing another inmate who sought to testify for the State. He also argued that his trial counsel had failed to investigate Steven Wells, the witness who claimed to have seen Martinez in blood-stained clothing, and had failed to tell the jury that Martinez was convicted of burglarizing Perry’s home on the day of the funeral.⁶

On July 28, 2016, after additional proceedings in the trial court, the Utah Supreme Court upheld the conviction. It found the DNA evidence against Griffin “overwhelming” and rejected the ineffective-assistance and chain-of-custody arguments.¹¹² Griffin remains incarcerated, serving life without the possibility of parole.¹³

1
Salt Lake Tribune. Utah Supreme Court Upholds Conviction in 1984 Murder of Brigham City Gas Station Attendant
2
Daily Herald. Argument Over Correct Change Led to Homicide
3
FindLaw. State v. Griffin
4
Utah State University. USU Today
5
Deseret News. Box Elder Sheriff Is Offering Reward in 1984 Murder Case
6
Ogden Standard-Examiner. Appeal of Brigham City Murder Conviction Progresses
7
Deseret News. Authorities Close Investigation Into ’84 Killing
8
Deseret News. Suspect Is ID’d in ’84 Killing in Perry
9
Deseret News. Griffin Gets Life Without Parole for ’84 Murder
10
Deseret News. Wade Garrett Maughan Found Not Guilty in 1984 Murder
11
FindLaw. State v. Maughan
12
Herald Journal. Conviction of Logan Man in 1984 Cold Case Murder Upheld
13
Deseret News. Utah Supreme Court Upholds Murder Conviction in 3-Decade-Old Case