Bride pleads guilty to murdering husband

A NEWLYWED bride accused of deliberately pushing her husband to his death from a cliff in Montana's Glacier National Park agreed Thursday to plead guilty to second-degree murder.

News of the plea deal for Jordan Graham, 22, came as a jury was set to hear closing arguments in her murder trial. A judge is still deciding whether to accept the agreement.

Under the plea deal, prosecutors would drop charges of first-degree murder and making false statements. Graham would face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Prosecutors had alleged Graham was having second thoughts about her eight-day-old marriage to Cody Johnson, 25, when she lured him to a steep cliff in the park on July 7 and intentionally pushed him.

Jordan Graham is flanked by defence attoeys as she leaves court on December 10. Picture: AP. Source: AP

Defence attoeys wrapped up their case Thursday without the bride telling the jury in her own words what happened that summer night.

Instead, Graham's attoeys showed the jurors pictures and videos of Graham smiling as she had her hair done and tried on her borrowed wedding dress, then videos of the June 29 wedding and the couple's first dance.

Jordan Linn Graham leaves federal court in October. Picture: AP. Source: AP

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 then eight days later, led him to a dangerous precipice in the Montana park and deliberately pushed him to his death.

Johnson was reported missing on July 8. Graham initially said he left with friends the night before, but eventually told the FBI that Johnson died in a tragic accident during a heated argument.