Hearing underway for first of 2 Iowa teens who pleaded guilty in 2021 beating death of teacher

2023-07-07 00:50

A sentencing hearing for the first of two Iowa teenagers who pleaded guilty to fatally beating their high school Spanish teacher with a baseball bat was underway Thursday

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A sentencing hearing for the first of two Iowa teenagers who pleaded guilty to beating their high school Spanish teacher to death with a baseball bat was underway Thursday with details about the investigation into the killing.

Willard Miller and Jeremy Goodale pleaded guilty in April to the 2021 attack on Nohema Graber in a park in Fairfield, Iowa, where the 66-year-old teacher regularly walked after school. Prosecutors said the teens, who were 16 at the time, were angry at Graber because of a bad grade she had given Miller.

Miller will be the first sentenced after he pleaded guilty as part of an agreement in which prosecutors recommended a term of between 30 years and life in prison, with the possibility of parole.

Under Goodale's agreement to plead guilty, prosecutors recommended a sentence of between 25 years and life with the possibility of parole. Goodale's sentencing is scheduled for August but his lawyers have sought a delay in 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 and social media postings that led them to question and then arrest Miller and Goodale. Prosecutors also played recordings of police interviews with the two suspects and displayed photographs of the crime scene, including graphic images of Graber's body.

Later Thursday, the court is expected to hear statements from Graber's relatives.

The teens acknowledged killing Graber on Nov. 2, 2021, in Chautauqua Park in Fairfield, a city of 9,400 people about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Des Moines.

Goodale earlier testified that he and Miller 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 helping but denied hitting Graber.

The two were charged as adults, but because of their age they were not subject to a mandatory sentence of life without parole for first-degree murder. Miller is now 17 and Goodale is 18.