Page 15 - Flathead Beacon // 2.24.16

NEWS
COURT BEAT
community
banking partner
IDAHO STREET BANK
233 E Idaho St. Kalispell, MT 59901 755-4271
MERIDIAN ROAD BANK
552 N Meridian Rd. Kalispell, MT 59901 755-5432
www.ThreeRiversBankMontana.com
A Locally Owned, Independent Community Bank Since 1974
Court Ends Appeals Process For Jordan Graham Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals led a mandate in Graham’s appeals case on Feb. 17
your
BY JUSTIN FRANZ OF THE BEACON
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 led a formal mandate in the case of Jordan Linn Graham on Feb. 17. An appellate man- date ling formally ends the appeals process. The mandate a rmed the court’s decision to deny Graham’s request for a shorter prison sentence.
Graham’s only recourse now is to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Graham was convicted of second-degree murder in Decem- ber 2013, ve months after she shoved her husband of seven days o a cli 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 led 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 nal decision on sentencing.
In November, the appellate court panel sided with
Jordan Graham is anked by her defense team and the media as she leaves U.S. Federal Court in Missoula on the second day of her murder trial in 2013. JUSTIN FRANZ | FLATHEAD BEACON.
prosecutors, meaning Graham will serve out the remainder of her sentence in prison. In January, Graham’s attorney made one last e ort for a rehearing but a judge’s panel denied that request earlier this month.
BRIEFS
Student Who Allegedly Brought Gun to School to Stand Trial Next Month
The 17-year-old Flathead High student who allegedly brought a gun to school last month has been released on his on recog- nizance by a district court judge.
The boy has been charged with six misdemeanors, including possession of a weapon in school, carrying a concealed weapon, criminal possession of drug paraphernalia, running away, theft and unlawful possession of an intoxicating substance. The 17-year-old denied the allegations at a hearing on Feb. 12 and he is set to go to trial on March 28.
The Beacon is withholding the defen- dant’s name because he is a minor.
According to Flathead High School Resource O cer Cory Clarke and court documents, a school employee noticed the student was skipping class on Jan. 29 and confronted him. During the con- versation, the employee noticed the stu- dent smelled of alcohol and he was taken to an administrator’s o ce. The student allegedly told school o cials that he had been drinking and that there was a bottle of wine in his bag. When o cials searched the bag, they also found the loaded gun with ve bullets.
During an interview with police, the student said he planned on selling the gun, but Clarke said other interviews sug- gested that the student was about to run- away from home and wanted the weapon as protection. He allegedly stole the gun from a family member.
Clarke said that he does not believe the student planned on harming anyone with the weapon.
The boy’s public defender, Greg Rap- koch, led a motion to dismiss the carry- ing a concealed weapon charge on Feb. 17. In his argument, Rapkoch states that the gun was in a backpack and not concealed under a piece of clothing as the statue reads.
Helena Brothers Killed, Suspect Arrested
Lewis and Clark County o cials have released the names of two men who were shot and killed in Helena over the weekend.
Coroner Mickey Nelson tells the Inde- pendent Record that 40-year-old Robert Alan Mishler and 42-year-old William Andrew Mishler were shot to death the night of Feb. 20 at an apartment building just west of the downtown area.
Police say the shooting was reported at around 9:15 p.m. The suspect, 43-year- old Tilmon R. Nungesser IV, was found in the basement of the building and arrested on suspicion of deliberate homicide. He also lived in the building.
Police Chief Troy McGee said more information would be released when charging documents are led.
Judge: Founder of Luxury Montana Resort Will Stay in Jail
The founder of a Montana resort for the ultra-rich will stay in jail for failing to account for the “vanished” money from a Mexico property sale made in de ance of a court order, a federal judge said.
Tim Blixseth, founder of the Yellow- stone Club that led for bankruptcy in
jfranz@ atheadbeacon.com
2008, has been behind bars since last April, when he was found in contempt of court. He sold the luxury Tamarindo property, located in the Mexican state of Jalisco, for $13.8 million in 2011, violating a bankruptcy judge’s order.
U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon said Blixseth’s incarceration is meant to coerce him into revealing what happened to the money.
“Literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in disbursements made to various Blixsethfamilymembersortoentitieshe owned or controlled have simply vanished without adequate or even plausible expla- nation,” Haddon wrote in a Feb. 19 order.
Creditors from the Yellowstone Club’s bankruptcy are seeking more than $250 million from Blixseth. They have argued for him to remain incarcerated.
Blixseth has submitted more than 22,000 pages of documents in his numer- ous attempts to satisfy Haddon and get out of jail. Attorneys for the real estate devel- oper have said repeatedly that he’s done all he can to account for the Tamarindo proceeds.
“There is nothing more to produce, no furtherdocumentsandTimhasnocon- trol over former employees who kept any records,” Blixseth attorney Phil Stillman said Monday.
But more than $2.6 million remains unaccounted for, the judge said. That includes $1.2 million transferred to Blixseth and his wife and $1.1 million designated as loans to a timber company that disappeared without explanation, Haddon said.
FEBRUARY 24, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
15
news@ atheadbeacon.com
www.ThreeRiversBankMontana.com