Accused man 'snapped,' wife says
By Kristin Owens
Special to the Tribune
05/13/2008
PROVO - An Eagle Mountain man accused of barricading himself in his
house during a four-hour standoff with a SWAT team was bound over for
trial Monday.
The wife of 34-year-old Matthew Paul Graham, a veteran of the Iraq
war, testified during his preliminary hearing that her husband had
"snapped" the morning of Jan. 31.
After an argument about intimacy, Mindy Graham said, her husband
became furious, telling her he had wasted 12 years of his life with
her and telling their four children their mother was going to commit
suicide.
When Matthew Graham heard his wife call a friend to come and get
the children, he told her he would shoot the friend if she showed up
at the house, Mindy Graham testified.
Then he got out .45 caliber and .38 caliber pistols, she said.
"Matt's a soldier, he's very capable of hurting people," Mindy
Graham said. "He's made reference to that time and time again, that he
can hurt people."
The Graham's Mormon bishop called police after receiving a text
from Mindy Graham that read "Please help me."
Mindy sent another text to her friend Becky that said, "When I'm
gone please fight for custody of my kids, I want you to have them."
When police knocked on the door, Mindy Graham testified her
husband cracked open the door with a gun held behind his back.
He let his wife and children leave the house, but the incident
escalated into standoff with SWAT officers.
Utah County Sheriff Sgt. Mike Brower testified that Graham made
threats to officers, telling them he had sniper training and he could
take out the officers positioned around the house.
Graham was eventually talked out of the house and arrested after
close to four and a half hours. Mindy Graham said her husband has
hated police since he returned from Iraq in 2004, and has talked about
defending his property against them.
The felony charges against Graham include aggravated kidnapping,
making terroristic threats and domestic violence in the presence of a
child, said prosecutor Douglas Finch.
Graham will be arraigned in 4th District Court on Monday.
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