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Court Ends Appeals Process For Jordan Graham

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals filed a mandate in Graham’s appeals case on Feb. 17

By Justin Franz
During her 2013 murder trial, Jordan Graham leaves the Federal Courthouse in Missoula. - Beacon file photo

The Kalispell woman who murdered her husband in Glacier National Park has hit a dead end in the appeals process.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals filed a formal mandate in the case of Jordan Linn Graham on Feb. 17. An appellate mandate filing formally ends the appeals process. The mandate affirmed the court’s decision to deny Graham’s request for a shorter prison sentence.

Graham was convicted of second-degree murder in December 2013, five months after she shoved her husband of seven days off a cliff in Glacier National Park. In March 2014, she was sentenced to 30 years in prison. She is currently incarcerated at a federal prison in Alabama.

In 2015, Federal Public Defender Michael Donahoe filed an appeal arguing that Graham’s sentence was extreme. Assistant U.S. Attorney Zeno Baucus responded that prosecutors simply made a recommendation and that U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy made the final decision on sentencing.

In November, the appellate court panel sided with prosecutors, meaning Graham will serve out the remainder of her sentence in prison. In January, Graham’s attorney made one last effort for a rehearing but a judge’s panel denied that request earlier this month.