DES MOINES, Iowa—The first of two Iowa teenagers who pleaded guilty to beating their high school Spanish teacher to death with a baseball bat was sentenced Thursday to life with a possibility of parole after 35 years in prison.
A judge sentenced Willard Miller after a sentencing hearing that lasted more than seven hours.
Willard and another teen, Jeremy Goodale, had pleaded guilty in April to the 2021 attack on Nohema Graber. The 66-year-old teacher was fatally beaten while taking her regular afternoon walk in a park in Fairfield.
In sentencing Willard, District Court Judge Shawn Showers acknowledged Willard’s young age but also noted he had “cut Nohema Graber’s precious life short,” devastating her family and the community….