Iowa Teen Sentenced to Life for Killing Spanish Teacher

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Facts

  • Willard Miller, the 17-year-old teen from Fairfield, Iowa, who pleaded guilty to beating his high school Spanish teacher to death over a bad grade, has been sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 35 years.1
  • Miller and another teen, Jeremy Goodale, both pleaded guilty in April to the 2021 killing of Nohema Graber, 66, with a baseball bat while she took her routine walk in a park. Under Goodale's guilty plea, prosecutors have recommended 25 years to life in prison, and his sentencing isn't scheduled until August.2
  • The sentencing came after investigators described how officers found Graber's body under a tarp with a wheelbarrow and railroad tie placed on top. Prosecutors also showed social media postings between the two teens, recordings of conversations they had with police, and photos of the crime scene.3
  • Both teens, who investigators say had spoken with Graber about the grade the day of the murder, turned against each other during the trial. While Miller admitted to helping carry out the plan but that he never struck her with the bat, Goodale said Miller initiated the plan, provided the bat, and had the intent to kill.4
  • The two were charged as adults, but because of their age — Miller is now 17 and Goodale is 18 — they were not subject to the mandatory first-degree murder sentence of life imprisonment without parole.2
  • While Miller told the victim's family "realizing just the magnitude of my actions, and I know it’s wrong," several of Graber's relatives also blamed him for the early death of her husband, who had cancer but delayed treatment amid his depression over the murder.4

Sources: 1BBC News, 2CBS, 3Huffington Post, and 4New York Post.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by New York Times. Though teenagers should face repercussions when they've committed crimes, they should not be tried as adults. Compared to adults, children have more maturing ahead of them and thus have more room for rehabilitation. When tried as adults, they receive harsher sentences than they would have in a family court and then lose out on the possibility of reversing course.
  • Narrative B, as provided by Teen Ink. Whether the perpetrator is above or below 18 years of age, those who commit violent adult crimes like this should be prosecuted and sentenced as adults in many circumstances — if not for the sake of punishment, then, at least, to provide justice to the families of the victims. This is a just and preventative approach to criminal justice.