On April 2, 1983, two masked men robbed a drugstore in Bountiful, Utah. A witness reported seeing a thin young man with blond hair pacing behind the drugstore prior to the robbery.
The witness identified a photograph of 22-year-old Greg Oliver as the man he had seen. Oliver owned a Levi’s jacket similar to the one described by the witness, and, according to police, Oliver was unable to fully account for his whereabouts at the time of the robbery. Oliver said he had spent the day of the robbery preparing to move his mother to a rest home, and throughout the day, he interacted with multiple witnesses. Around the time of the robbery, however, he said he was driving by himself from a store to his home.
Oliver’s jury trial for aggravated robbery began in early June 1983 in Davis County District Court. Attorney Robert Macri represented Oliver. Davis County Deputy Attorney Mel Wilson prosecuted the case, and Judge Douglas Cornaby presided over the trial.
The witness from outside the drugstore testified and identified Oliver in the courtroom. The prosecution argued that Oliver committed the crime during the window of time when he said he was driving from the store to his home. On June 9, 1983, the jury found Oliver guilty of aggravated robbery, and he was sentenced to one to 15 years in prison.
On August 8, 1983, police in Ogden, Utah, arrested 24-year-old Norwood Fridel in connection with a different robbery. After Fridel’s arrest, he confessed to the Bountiful drugstore robbery, providing details only the robber could have known. He identified Renold Hastie as his accomplice. Hastie also confessed to the crime. Detective Steve Gray of the Bountiful Police Department investigated these confessions in the context of Oliver’s case.
Following Fridel’s and Hastie’s confessions and Gray’s investigation, the court granted Oliver’s motion for a new trial. On August 16, 1983, Wilson successfully moved to dismiss the robbery charge against Oliver. “I’m satisfied it was a case of mistaken identity,” said Wilson.
- Meghan Barrett Cousino
Posting Date: 01-26-2026