In this Oct. 4, 2013 file photo, Jordan Linn Graham, center, leaves federal court, in Missoula, Mont. She is charged with murdering her husband, Cody Johnson, in July.
On the first day of the murder trial for a Montana woman charged with pushing her husband off a cliff, prosecutors introduced as evidence dozens of text messages between the 22-year-old woman and a friend that they say indicates the newlywed’s growing disillusionment with her marriage.
Six men and eight women were selected to act as jurors during the first-degree murder trial of Jordan Linn Graham, the newlywed who told the FBI that she pushed her husband of eight days, 25-year-old Cody Johnson, off of a 200-ft. cliff in Glacier National Park in July. The trial began on Monday in Montana with prosecutors presenting the text messages from Graham to her friend, Kimberly Martinez, to jurors.
Federal public defender Kris McLean told jurors that although Graham was uncertain about her marriage, her husband’s death was an accident, and she lied about it because she thought people would not believe her story, according to the Associated Press. After Johnson fell, Graham reportedly neglected to inform anyone of what happened, and instead sent text messages to her friends.
The defendant also allegedly created a fake email account for a man named “Tony,” from which she emailed her legitimate account with the information that Johnson was dead. She led a search party to his body on July 11.
[NBC News]