A Utah mother accused of killing her husband is complaining that the courts are ruining everything that she loves after she was denied permission to speak with her kids while awaiting trial.
A protective order was previously issued to prevent Jennifer Gledhill from speaking with her young children while she awaits trial. However, her attorney argued that the order was "incorrectly placed" since her children are not the victims, as reported by FOX 13.
"My client's already lost her liberty at this point in time," Jeremy Deus, Gledhill's attorney, told the court Friday. "It feels like the state, and the city, the police agency that investigated this, are trying to set everything that my client loves on fire."
Dues added that Gledhill's kids — aged 5, 7 and 11 — currently believe that their father is "missing" and that their mother has been taken away while they stay with the Utah Division of Child and Family Services, as reported by KSL-TV.
Gledhill was charged with first-degree murder and obstruction of justice Oct. 15 after investigators accused her of killing her husband, Matthew Johnson, whose body has not been found.
Police arrested Gledhill after a man who claimed to be having an affair with Gledhill told officers that Gledhill allegedly told him she killed Johnson. Investigators believe Gledhill allegedly shot Johnson, who previously served with the Utah National Guard, in the head in September, as reported by FOX 13.
Gledhill's parents were also arrested Thursday for obstruction of justice after police said a neighbor stated that they reportedly saw Gledhill's parents helping clean the house.
Judge Adam Mow ended up removing the protective order, but issued a no-contact order, meaning that Gledhill still cannot speak with her children. Mow said he would be open to exceptions in the future under certain conditions, acknowledging the order's affect on the kids.
Originally published by Lawyer Herald.
