116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Fairfield teens plead to killing Spanish teacher in 2021
One teen faces up to 30 years, other who cooperated faces up to 25
Apr. 18, 2023 12:59 pm, Updated: Apr. 20, 2023 2:30 pm
Two Fairfield teens pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree murder for killing a high school Spanish teacher in 2021 over what prosecutors said was a bad grade, but one wouldn’t admit to striking her with a baseball bat — instead saying it was his co-defendant who did.
Willard Noble Chaiden Miller, 17, pleaded to first-degree murder during a hearing in Jefferson County District Court. Miller admitted to striking the teacher, Nohema Graber, 66, or aiding and abetting Jeremy Goodale, now 18, in striking her with a baseball bat on Nov. 2, 2021. He admitted he acted willfully, deliberately and with premeditation and specific intent.
Miller admitted he and Goodale were in Chautauqua Park, which is near Fairfield High School and where Graber took daily walks, that day and he acted as a “lookout” when Goodale struck Graber. Miller knew he was going to kill her and assisted.
Assistant Iowa Attorney General Scott Brown said Miller also was part of planning the murder, and also struck Graber with the baseball bat. Miller also helped cover up the crime and destroyed evidence, which is included in the minutes of testimony with the plea agreement, Brown noted.
However, Christine Branstad, Miller’s lawyer, said Miller denies striking Graber.
Branstad said she discussed other possible defenses, such as the ability to form intent and diminished capacity, with Miller in making his decision to plead. But Miller agreed those weren’t viable defenses in this case.
Brown said the prosecution will recommend a minimum of 30 years in prison for Miller, with the possibility of parole. Defense also can make a sentencing recommendation.
Judge Shawn Showers told Miller, who was solemn and looked straight ahead during the plea, that the maximum penalty would be life in prison with the possibility of parole because he was a juvenile at the time he committed the murder.
Miller can appeal only the sentence, not the guilty plea, according to the plea deal.
In a second hearing Tuesday, Goodale also pleaded to first-degree murder, and briefly laid out what happened that day in the park.
Goodale said he met Miller at the park and understood Miller intended to kill Graber. Miller brought a baseball bat and other supplies needing in the fatal assault. After Miller struck Graber, they moved her off the park trail and then “I struck her” and she died.
Goodale said it was his “recollection” that the teens removed evidence.
He also admitted that Miller came up with the plan to kill the teacher, and Miller asked him to assist.
Brown asked the judge to include the minutes of testimony in the plea. Those minutes include that Goodale also helped plan the crime about two weeks before the attack. Miller asked Goodale to assist him because of the grades Miller received in Graber’s Spanish class, they show.
Graber, who grew up in Mexico, had been a Spanish teacher at Fairfield High since 2012. She left behind three children — Christian, Nohema Marie and Jared — and a former husband, Paul.
Brown said the prosecution will recommend at sentencing that Goodale serve no less than 25 years in prison. The defense, as with Miller, can make any recommendation it chooses. The maximum is life in prison with the possibility of parole.
The differences in the prosecution’s sentencing recommendations for the teens is because Goodale cooperated with the investigation and Miller didn’t, Brown said.
Goodale can also appeal the sentencing but not the guilty plea, according to the deal.
Judge Showers told both teens during their separate hearings that he is not bound to the plea agreement and will order presentencing reports for each. He also said he would meet with each teen’s lawyers to set sentencing dates after the hearings.
Jefferson County District Attorney Chauncey Moulding, after the hearing, was asked about Miller’s denial of striking Graber.
Moulding said based on the nature of the charge, both can be guilty of first-degree murder as the principals or can aid and abet in the crime, but he is confident that “but for the actions of Miller, Graber would be alive today.”
Miller was her student at the time of the killing and Goodale had Graber as his Spanish teacher the year before, Moulding said. Goodale didn’t have any “educational issue” with her.
Moulding said many more details of the fatal attack will come out during sentencing. The sentencings will likely be in July and August.
In a previous hearing, a prosecutor said Goodale was going to testify against Miller at Miller’s trial, which was set to start Friday in Council Bluffs, where it was moved because of pretrial publicity. Goodale’s trial was set for May 14 in Scott County.
In that previous hearing, Miller’s lawyers asked the court to suppress evidence from the two teens’ interviews with investigators and evidence collected from Miller’s home.
Showers denied the motion, and Miller’s lawyers were also denied a further review by the Iowa Supreme Court.
Miller and Goodale were each charged as adults with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit a forcible felony in the fatal assault. The forcible felony charge will be dismissed at their sentencings as part of the plea agreements, Showers said.
During testimony in previous hearings, an investigator said authorities learned Miller had met with Graber the afternoon of Nov. 2, 2021, to discuss his poor grade in her class. Miller told investigators about his frustration that the Spanish teacher was hurting his grade-point average. He said he also knew Graber drove a Honda van.
Authorities learned, during the investigation, that Graber arrived at Chautauqua Park about 4 p.m. that day for her daily walk, according to court documents. Graber’s van was seen leaving the park about 4:42 p.m.
The van was then seen on Middle Glasgow Road after 5 p.m., and a witness described two males in the front seat. The same witness then saw two thin, white males walking along Middle Glasgow.
Graber’s van was found at the end of that road about a half-mile from where the two males were walking, court documents stated.
Another witness told investigators that he was contacted about 5 p.m. and asked to pick up Goodale and Miller on Middle Glasgow Road, according to the documents.
Miller initially denied any involvement in the teacher’s disappearance but then later said he knew about what happened but didn’t participate, court documents stated. He told authorities the killers were a “roving group of masked kids” who forced him to provide his wheelbarrow to help move the body and drive her van from the park.
Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com
Daily Newsletters