DES MOINES, Iowa — The first of two Iowa teens who pleaded guilty to beating their Spanish teacher to death with a baseball bat was sentenced Thursday to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 35 years in prison. prison.
The judge sentenced Willard Miller after a lengthy hearing.
Miller and another teenager, Jeremy Goodale, had pleaded guilty in April to the 2021 attack on Nohema Graber, a 66-year-old Spanish teacher who was killed while taking her usual afternoon walk through a park in the city of Fairfield.
As part of the plea deal, prosecutors had recommended that Miller receive a sentence of between 30 years and life in prison, with the possibility of parole.
Goodale will be sentenced at a later date.
Before his sentencing, Miller declared Thursday that he accepted responsibility for the murder and apologized to Graber’s family.
“First of all, I would like to apologize to the family for my actions,” he said. “I am sincerely sorry for the suffering I have caused you and the devastation I have caused your family.”
