On July 7 approximately a week after being married, Jordan Linn Graham was accused of murdering her husband by pushing him from a cliff. Graham did not report the incident when it occurred. She initially told police Johnson had left in a dark vehicle the night of July 7 with unknown friends. She later changed her story and told the interrogator that she lied but that Johnson’s death was an accident.
“I was afraid that they weren’t going to give me a chance to explain things and they were just gonna kind of put me in handcuffs and take me away right there and say that I had committed a crime or that I had planned this to kill somebody,” she said.
Her trial was postponed after prosecutors told her defense attorney they discovered new evidence that her husband was blindfolded before being pushed from the cliff. If the prosecution does in fact possess’ evidence that suggests her husband was blindfolded when pushed off the cliff, the government’s case for premeditation, first-degree murder becomes extremely strong. However, Graham’s defense attorney says that the prosecution has no evidence regarding the use of a blindfold. The defense attorney, however, still expresses that he is unprepared to continue for the trial scheduled for December.
A report exists, which alleges an FBI interrogator inappropriately touched Graham’s knee during the interview, and almost hour and a half of Graham’s interrogation was not recorded, despite the necessary equipment being readily available. Failing to preserve such evidence, which includes Graham’s first admission that she had previously lied, is a violation of Graham’s rights, the defense attorney included in his brief.
The case is being handled federally because the alleged crime happened in a national park.