Bride wants to get out of jail

MISSOULA (AP) — A Kalispell woman accused of pushing her new husband off a cliff in Glacier National Park remained in jail Wednesday as a federal judge considered arguments for her release.

Jordan Linn Graham, 22, appeared at a detention hearing at U.S. District Court in Missoula. She has been held in the Missoula County jail since her initial appearance Monday on a charge of second-degree murder in the July 7 death of her husband, Cody Lee Johnson.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah Lynch heard from witnesses on both sides on whether Graham should be released while the case is pending. He did not make an immediate ruling, instead saying he will take the arguments under advisement with an order to follow.

A decision is expected today.

Graham’s public defenders said she is neither a flight risk nor a danger to others. She would stay with her family in Kalispell while the trial is pending under whatever conditions the judge places on her, the defense said.

Prosecutors argued that Graham repeatedly lied to law-enforcement officers, that she poses a safety risk to herself and asked the judge to consider the serious nature of the charge.

Prosecutors say Graham confessed to pushing Johnson from the cliff near the popular Loop Trail during an argument, just hours after telling a friend she was having doubts about her eight-day-old marriage.

Johnson was reported missing July 8 when he failed to show up for work. Graham originally told investigators that he sent her a text message the night of his death that he was going for a drive with a friend from out of town.

In a later interview, Graham admitted to authorities that she had lied, according to an affidavit filed with the charges. She told them she and Johnson had an argument, were upset and decided to go to the Loop Trail.

Their argument intensified on the trail and at one point, she turned to walk away, but Johnson grabbed her arm, according to the affidavit.

She turned around, removed his hand from her arm and “due to her anger, she pushed Johnson with both hands in the back, and as a result, he fell face first off the cliff,” the affidavit says.

Johnson’s body was recovered July 12 — a day after Graham told a park ranger that she had found the body.