Judge orders bride's release from jail

Murder suspect Jordan Graham of Kalispell is being released from jail.

In a nine-page ruling Thursday afternoon, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah Lynch in Missoula ordered her release, arguing that she does not pose a flight risk and the government has not proven any condition or combination of conditions will “reasonably assure the safety of the community.”

Graham is accused of killing her husband, Cody Johnson, on July 7 by pushing him off a cliff near The Loop in Glacier National Park.

The couple had been married eight days before Johnson’s death. His body was recovered July 12.

Lynch wrote that an order imposing her conditions of release will be filed separately.

“It is only in rare circumstances that a defendant’s release should be denied, and any doubts the court may have regarding the propriety of release should be resolved in the defendant’s favor,” Lynch wrote.

He added that Graham’s record reflects absolutely no criminal history, no indication of a history of drug or alcohol abuse, and “no evidence beyond the isolated incident alleged in the Criminal Complaint that Graham has ever before exhibited tendencies for violence or even anger.”

While the government argued that Graham poses a danger to herself as indicated in text messages she sent stating that she was suicidal, Lynch wrote that the government did not prove that there was no condition that could be imposed on her release that would alleviate that risk.

Lynch also argued that the two-month delay before Graham’s arrest this week shows that the government did not believe she posed a significant danger to the community.

The order also included a reference to a new piece of information that came out during Wednesday’s detention hearing, that the email Graham claimed to have received saying Johnson was dead and to call off the search was traced to a computer in her family’s home.

Reporter Jesse Davis may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at jdavis@dailyinterlake.com.