Killer's bid to withdraw guilty plea rejected

<p><strong>Jordan Graham</strong>, right, leaves the federal courthouse in Missoula following a court appearance in October 2013. (AP file photo)</p>

by The Daily Inter Lake and The Associated Press
| March 27, 2014 9:51 AM

MISSOULA — A federal judge on Thursday denied Jordan Graham's bid to renege on her guilty plea to killing her husband last summer in Glacier National Park.

Graham, 22, of Kalispell pleaded guilty in December and admitted she pushed Cody Johnson, 25, off a cliff, but she tried to withdraw that plea this week after prosecutors recommended 50 years to life in prison.

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy denied Graham's request as her sentencing hearing began Thursday in Missoula.

She said she pushed Johnson off the cliff on July 7 following an argument. They had been married eight days.

Johnson’s body was found at the bottom of the cliff below The Loop three days after he was reported missing by a friend and co-worker. Graham said at her trial that she was having second thoughts about being married so young and they went to the park to talk about it.

They argued heatedly at the edge of a steep cliff. Johnson grabbed her, she became angry and she “just pushed” without thinking about where they were, Graham said.

She didn’t tell anybody what had happened, instead making up a story that Johnson had gone for a “joyride” with friends from Washington state.

That story unraveled when the versions she told to friends, relatives and authorities didn’t match.