An Iowa teen who pleaded guilty to beating his Spanish teacher to death over a bad grade was sentenced Thursday to life in prison with a 35 year minimum.
Judge Shawn Showers told now-18-year-old Willard Miller during the sentencing hearing that he is “fortunate” that state law doesn’t permit juveniles to be sentenced to life without parole, the Des Moines Register said.
“That would have been a serious consideration for me if I had that option,” Showers said.
Miller and classmate Jeremy Goodale were both 16 when they beat 66-year-old Nohema Graber to death with a baseball bat on November 2, 2021, as CrimeOnline has reported. The two teens pleaded guilty earlier this year. Miller claimed he was just a lookout and Goodale was the killer, but Goodale was prepared to testify against Miller before he pleaded guilty. Goodale is scheduled to be sentenced next month, although a hearing has been scheduled on whether to postpone it.
Prosecutors had asked for a 30 year minimum in Miller’s sentencing, while his attorneys, still holding to Miller’s insistence that Goodale committed the murder, argued for no minimum, according to the Register. The judge disagreed.
“The entire Fairfield community has been shaken by the senseless, premeditated murder of one its beloved teachers. … You along with Mr. Goodale are accountable for that detrimental impact on the community,” Showers told Miller, adding that “any individual who would plan and participate in murder based on an unsatisfactory grade is an individual that will require immense rehabilitation.”
After listening to heartbreaking statements from Graber’s international family, Miller stood to offer apologies to her family, his own, and Goodale’s. He also apologized to investigators for initially misleading them about the murder. Prosecutors said he told them “a roving gang of masked kids” forced him to to help them hide the beloved teacher’s body and then drive her van away from the scene.
“(I) wholeheartedly accept responsibility for the role I played in the murder,” he said, without specifying what that role was.
Showers said he believed Miller was still downplaying his part in the murder and showed little true remorse.
“While the defendant is remorseful for his current situation, there has been little remorse shown by Mr. Miller for the Graber family,” he said.
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[Featured image: Willard Miller and one of his attorneys at Thursday’s sentencing hearing. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette via AP, Pool)]
