Teen who beat teacher to death with baseball bat over bad grade is jailed for life
A teenager who beat his Spanish teacher to death with a baseball bat over a bad grade has been jailed for life.
Willard Miller, 17, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder back in April over the ‘brutal’ 2021 killing of Nohema Graber in Fairfield, Iowa.
He and fellow student Jeremy Goodale, 18, attacked Ms Graber during her regular afternoon walk in Chautauqua Park after she marked down his work.
Miller later told police he was frustrated with her way of teaching, saying her marks were pulling down his grade point average – a key score used in applications for colleges and scholarships.
He was sentenced to life in prison with a possibility of parole after 35 years. Goodale will be sentenced later.
The teen was also ordered to pay at least $150,000 (£117,000) in restitution to the victim’s family.
District Court Judge Shawn Showers noted his young age but said he had ‘cut Nohema Graber’s precious life short’.
He told him: ‘I find that your intent and actions were sinister and evil. Those acts resulted in the intentional loss of human life in a brutal fashion.
‘There is no excuse.’
Before he was sentenced, Miller told the court he accepted responsibility for the killing and apologised to his victim’s family.
‘I would like to apologise for my actions, first and foremost to the family,’ he said. ‘I am sincerely sorry for the distress I have caused you and the devastation I have caused your family.’
Miller also apologised to the Fairfield community, his own family, Goodale’s family and the police.
‘I’m realizing just the magnitude of my actions, and I know it’s wrong and I knew it was wrong and yet I still carried through,’ he added. ‘I still did what I did, and I accept responsibility for that.’
Many of Ms Graber’s relatives either read or submitted victim impact statements describing her as kind, caring and devoted to her family, students and church.
Several also blamed Miller and Goodale for the recent death of her bereaved husband, who suffered from cancer but delayed treatment amid his depression over the murder.
‘I hope you open your soul to the lord and maybe ask for forgiveness there first because you’re on a spiral straight to hell,’ Ms Graber’s brother-in-law Jim said while staring at Miller.
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