A newlywed has pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder charge after being accused of pushing her husband off a cliff just eight days after their wedding
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Jordan Linn Graham, 22, agreed to plead guilty in exchange for waiving a first-degree murder charge and a lying to investigators charge, the prosecutor in the case revealed in court on Thursday.
The development came before a jury was set to begin considering the case against Graham. She could face a maximum sentence of life in prison when she is sentenced on March 27.
She was accused of killing Cody Johnson, 25, by pushing him over a cliff in Glacier National Park in July, with prosecutors claiming she was having serious second thoughts about the marriage.
Plea deal: Jordan Graham, pictured center on Tuesday, has agreed to plead guilty to second-degree murder in the death of her husband, who she pushed off a cliff eight days after their wedding
First-degree murder means the crime is premeditated.
But her defense team had argued that his fall came after an argument and that Graham had initially lied to police because she was afraid she wouldn't be allowed to explain what had unfolded.
Her husband disappeared July 7. Four days later, Graham led friends and relatives to the park, where they found Johnson's body, initially claiming she had found him after a search.
Graham concocted a story that her husband had gone off with friends and had not returned.
Earlier on Thursday, defense attorneys wrapped up their case without testimony from Graham.
Instead, they showed the jurors pictures and videos of Graham smiling as she had her hair done and tried on her wedding dress, then videos of the June 29 wedding and the couple's first dance.
Those images attempted to chip away at the prosecution's image of Graham as a cold, dispassionate woman who didn't want to marry Johnson, and their contention that eight days later she led him to a dangerous precipice in the Montana park and deliberately pushed him to his death.
Before tragedy: Graham is pictured with 25-year-old Cody Johnson, whom she married in June. Johnson's mother testified in the trial that her son had been excited to marry Graham
Hearing her words back: More than a week after her husband died, Jordan Graham was interviewed by FBI officers and she is heard on tape saying that she 'pushed him and took off'
In earlier testimony, the coroner revealed that Johnson was not wearing his wedding ring when he was found at the bottom of a ravine and had an 8-inch gash on his forehead.
The plea deal on Thursday followed dramatic evidence in the courtroom in Missoula, including an FBI interview in which Graham admitted that she had shoved .
‘I pushed him and I took off,’ she said to an FBI agent in the recording.
On the tape, Graham calmly told FBI agent Stacey Smiedala that she and Johnson were having a fight and decided to drive to Glacier to discuss their issues.
While venturing off trail near the Loop, Graham said Johnson grabbed her arm. Graham then took Johnson's hand off her and pushed him over the cliff.
'It was a quick thing, I just wanted to get him off me,' she said in the recorded interview. 'I don't feel like I killed him; I mean I pushed him, but it was an accident.'
Tough case: Graham, seen here with members of her legal team, was in court when they played a video interview of her telling an FBI agent about how she pushed her husband off a cliff in Glacier National Park
Under scrutiny: Graham, pictured outside the court, had maintained she pushed Johnson in an argument
Johnson died on July 7 but his body was found days later when Graham led a search to the specific spot where she knew he was after initially denying that she had any idea where he had ‘disappeared’.
Flathead County deputy coroner Richard Sine took the witness stand on Wednesday and said Johnson also had lacerations on his legs in addition to the laceration on his forehead.
Sine also testified that Johnson's shoes were found some distance from his body.
One explosive revelation came when the coroner mentioned a black cloth near Johnsons’ body.
Defense attorneys were to argue against the use of the cloth as any form of evidence, saying that it was handled inappropriately during the investigation.
The prosecution had claimed that Graham may have blindfolded her husband before pushing him in the back with two hands as he plunged face-first off the cliff.
Happier times? Graham and Johnson pictured during their first dance at their wedding days before his death
A mother's anguish: Cody Johnson's mother Sherry (left) told the court that when she said something comforting to Jordan at the funeral, she didn't respond
Johnson’s mother also testified and said that her son was excited to marry Graham. She added that she tried to console Graham during a prayer service after her son's death.
'I put my arm around her and said everything will be OK,' Sherry Johnson said tearfully. 'Cody's with Jesus now.'
Rather than saying any words of comfort to her grieving mother-in-law, Mrs Johnson said that Graham stayed quiet and did not respond.
SOURCE-DAILYMAIL
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