The first of two Iowa teenagers who pleaded guilty to fatally beating their Spanish teacher with a baseball bat in 2021 was sentenced Thursday to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 35 years.
Willard Miller was 16 when Fairfield High School teacher Nohema Graber, 66, was found dead Nov. 3, 2021.
Miller, in orange jail scrubs and sitting next to his attorneys, showed no emotion Thursday after District Judge Shawn Showers sentenced him to a minimum of decades in prison after calling his actions “sinister and evil.”
Graber’s body was discovered in Chautauqua Park in Fairfield not long after she was reported missing. Investigators had searched the park because the teacher was known to walk there, according to criminal complaints. They found her “concealed under a tarp, wheelbarrow, and railroad ties,” the complaints said. She had suffered trauma to the head.
Miller, and Jermey Goodale, also 16 at the time of the slaying, were charged as adults with first-degree murder.
The teens allegedly observed Graber’s daily routine, ambushed her on her daily walk, dragged her body into the woods and beat her with a baseball bat, court documents stated.
Prosecutors said the teens were angry at Graber because Miller was failing her class. Miller was sentenced first after he pleaded guilty in April as part of an agreement in which prosecutors recommended between 30 years and life in prison, with the possibility of parole.
Goodale’s sentencing is scheduled for August, but his lawyers have sought a delay in the hearing. Under his agreement to plead guilty in April, prosecutors recommended a sentence of 25 years to life with the possibility of parole.
Goodale testified they had planned the killing for about two weeks and that both of them struck the victim and then hid her body. Goodale said Miller had initiated the plan. Miller admitted to helping but denied hitting Graber.
Defense attorney Christine Branstad, argued in court Thursday that Miller should not have a mandatory sentence on him. His client cooperated with investigators there was no physical evidence of him swinging the bat that killed Graber, the lawyer said.
“He goes through in great detail how he started out as dark jokes and a plan that just went forward. He admits providing the bat. He admits being a lookout. He admits participation,” she said in court. “There is some disagreement about whether or not he had the bat and struck the first blow. .. I think the evidence supports what Mr. Miller has said. There was no blood on him, there was blood on Mr. Goodale.”
The two teens were charged as adults but because of their age they weren’t subject to a mandatory sentence of life without parole for first-degree murder. Miller is now 17 and Goodale is 18.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Marlene Lenthang and The Associated Press contributed.
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