Teen sentenced to life in prison for killing his Spanish teacher over bad grade

Publish date: 2024-07-20

FAIRFIELD, Iowa (TND) — One of two Iowa teenagers accused of beating their Spanish teacher to death over a bad grade has been sentenced to life in prison.

Willard Miller was sentenced Thursday with the possibility of parole after 35 years in prison.

Prosecutors say he and classmate Jeremy Goodale killed 66-year-old Nohema Graber in 2021 at a park she regularly visited in Fairfield. They say the teens, who were 16 at the time, were angry over a bad grade she had given Miller and beat her to death with a baseball bat, then hid her body.

Miller and Goodale are being tried as adults and are charged with first-degree murder. Miller is now 17 and Goodale is 18.

Both pleaded guilty in April of this year.

In sentencing Miller, District Court Judge Shawn Showers said he "cut Nohema Graber’s precious life short."

I find that your intent and actions were sinister and evil. Those acts resulted in the intentional loss of human life in a brutal fashion,” he said. “There is no excuse.”

Miller apologized in court to Graber's family.

I would like to apologize for my actions, first and foremost to the family,” he said. “I am sincerely sorry for the distress I have caused you and the devastation I have caused your family.”

Goodale is set to be sentenced in August, but his lawyers want that sentencing pushed back until October because the psychiatrist who is set to testify isn't available until then.

However, prosecutors say Paul Graber, Nohema Graber's husband, is suffering from a terminal illness and that it's unclear if he will survive until October to make a victim impact statement.

The State agreed to move the sentencing to an earlier date to accommodate the defendant’s expert witness, as well as allowing the expert to testify remotely by video or telephone, or alternately, the defense would have the opportunity to perpetuate his testimony by deposition.

A judge set a hearing on the matter for July 17.

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Editor's note: KGAN contributed to this report.

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