Willard Miller delivers a statement during his sentencing hearing at Jefferson County Court in Fairfield, Iowa, Thursday, July 6, 2023. Miller, the first of two Iowa teenagers to plead guilty to beatings to death Their Spanish high school teacher with a baseball bat, was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday with the possibility of parole after 35 years in prison.
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Willard Miller delivers a statement during his sentencing hearing at Jefferson County Court in Fairfield, Iowa, Thursday, July 6, 2023. Miller, the first of two Iowa teenagers to plead guilty to beatings to death Their Spanish high school teacher with a baseball bat, was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday with the possibility of parole after 35 years in prison.
Jim Slosiarek/AP
DES MOINES, Iowa — The first of two Iowa teens to plead guilty to beating their Hispanic high school teacher to death with a baseball bat was sentenced to life in prison Thursday with the possibility of parole after 35 years. prison.
A judge sentenced Willard Miller after a sentencing that lasted more than seven hours.
Miller and another teenager, Jeremy Goodale, pleaded guilty in April to the 2021 assault of Nohema Graber. The 66-year-old teacher was beaten to death during her routine afternoon walk in a Fairfield park.
In sentencing Miller, District Court Judge Shawn Showers admitted Miller was young but also noted that he had “shortened Nohema Graber’s precious life”, devastating her family and community.
“I see that your intentions and actions are sinister and evil. Those actions have led to the willful killing of people,” Showers said. “There’s no reason.”
As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors asked Miller to receive a prison term of 30 years to life, with the possibility of parole. Goodale will be sentenced later.
Before his conviction, Miller told the court on Thursday that he accepted responsibility for the murder and apologized to the Graber family.
“I want to apologize for my actions, first of all to my family,” he said. “I sincerely apologize for the suffering I have caused you and the devastation I have caused your family.”
Miller also apologized to the Fairfield community, his family, the Goodale family and the police.
A family friend, center, holds the hand of Nohema Marie Graber, daughter of the murdered Fairfield High School Spanish teacher Nohema Graber, as they listen to testimony during Willard Miller’s sentencing hearing in Court Jefferson County in Fairfield, Iowa, on Thursday, July 6, 2023.
JIM SLOSIAREK/AP
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JIM SLOSIAREK/AP
A family friend, center, holds the hand of Nohema Marie Graber, daughter of the murdered Fairfield High School Spanish teacher Nohema Graber, as they listen to testimony during Willard Miller’s sentencing hearing in Court Jefferson County in Fairfield, Iowa, on Thursday, July 6, 2023.
JIM SLOSIAREK/AP
“I’m realizing the gravity of my actions, and I know it’s wrong and I know it’s wrong but I’m moving on,” he said. “I still do what I did, and I take responsibility for that.”
Ten relatives of Graber who have read or submitted victim impact reports describe the woman as kind, caring and dedicated to her family, students and church. Some also blamed Miller and Goodale for the recent death of her husband Graber, who had cancer but delayed treatment due to depression because of the murder.
Jim Graber, Graber’s brother-in-law, said while glaring at Miller: “I hope you open your heart to God and can ask forgiveness there first because you’re in a spiral straight down to hell.
Miller and Goodale killed Graber on November 2, 2021, in a park where the teacher used to walk after school. Prosecutors said the teens, then 16, were angry with Graber because she gave Miller a bad grade.
Under Goodale’s plea agreement, prosecutors recommended sentences ranging from 25 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Goodale’s sentencing was scheduled for August, but his lawyers sought to delay the hearing.
Thursday’s sentencing hearing at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Fairfield initially focused on investigators who described how officers found Graber’s body. They also talked about social media posts that prompted them to question and then arrest Miller and Goodale. Prosecutors also played audio recordings of police interviews with both teenagers and displayed crime scene photographs, including graphic images of Graber’s body.
Special Agent Trent Vileta of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation recalled police finding Graber’s body under a tarp in Chautauqua Park. A wheelbarrow and rail tether had been placed on the tarp so the body was barely visible, only a shoe and a hand visible.
After partially pulling back the tarp, Vileta said the only significant injury to Graber appeared to be a severe head injury.
In the interview, Miller initially said he had no idea about Graber’s disappearance but later said he had seen other people carrying her body in the park.
Goodale testified earlier that he and Miller had been planning the murder for about two weeks and that they both beat the victim and then hid her body. Goodale said Miller initiated the plan. Miller admitted to helping but denied hitting Graber.
The two were charged as adults, but because of their age they were spared the mandatory life sentences without parole for first-degree murder. Miller is now 17 and Goodale is 18.
Fairfield, a city of 9,400 people, is about 100 miles (160 km) southeast of Des Moines.
