Iowa’s Supreme Court has reaffirmed a 35-year minimum prison sentence for a teenager who admitted to killing his high school Spanish teacher with a baseball bat.
Willard Chaiden Miller, 16 at the time, and another teen, fatally attacked 66-year-old Nohema Graber, their teacher at Fairfield High School.
Miller and his friend Jeremy Goodale were charged with the 2021 murder of Graber, who was found beaten to death and hidden under a railroad tie and other debris in a Fairfield park.
Miller, sentenced to life in prison with a mandatory minimum term, challenged the sentence, arguing that imposing a set minimum before parole for juveniles was unconstitutional.
The court unanimously upheld the lower court’s ruling, stating that mandatory minimum sentences for juveniles are legal as long as the specific circumstances of the case are considered.
The justices agreed that the sentencing judge properly applied these factors. Iowa’s Constitution prohibits sentencing juveniles to life without parole, according to AP News.
Miller and Jeremy Goodale, who received a life sentence with parole possible after 25 years, killed Graber on November 2, 2021, in a park she often visited after school.
Goodale later told investigators that Miller was upset about his grade in Graber’s class, and that Goodale had agreed to help Miller ambush her with a baseball bat as she walked through the park. The teens were prosecuted as adults, but their age prevented them from facing a mandatory life sentence without parole for first-degree murder.
At Miller’s sentencing, he admitted guilt and apologized. His defense team pushed for immediate parole eligibility, while state attorneys suggested a 30-year minimum sentence.
