Judge resets hearing for Fairfield teens charged with slaying teacher

FAIRFIELD — A judge next month will consider requests from two Fairfield teens, charged as adults for killing their high school Spanish teacher, to move their cases into juvenile court.

Eighth Judicial District Judge Shawn Showers reset the hearing to March 24 after lawyers for William Noble Chaiden Miller, 16, and Jeremy Everett Goodale, 16, asked for the hearing to be delayed last week.

Each teen is charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit a forcible felony. If the cases were moved back to juvenile court, they would face much lesser sentences if convicted.

In her motion, Christine Branstad, Miller’s lawyer, said because Miller is 16 years old, a transfer to juvenile court is appropriate according to Iowa law.

Branstad also cited Miller’s lack of criminal history as a reason for the court to consider the waiver. She requested a report from Juvenile Court Services.

Goodale’s attorneys, in their motion, made a similar argument to move the case into juvenile court — that the juvenile court should have “exclusive original jurisdiction in proceedings concerning a child.”

Iowa law allows a transfer to adult court for teenagers over 16 charged with forcible felonies “upon motion and for good cause.”

Jefferson County Attorney Chauncey Moulding, in his resistance to Miller’s initial request, said there were no “reasonable prospects for rehabilitating the child in the juvenile court system before the defendant turns 18 and ages out of that system” because of the nature of the crime.

Juveniles found guilty of a serious offense in juvenile court are typically sent to a training school or residential facility and released at age 18.

Moulding, in his motion regarding Goodale, argued that in the juvenile system he would be released at 18, which is less than 24 months.

“This prosecuting attorney cannot fathom any combination of programming at any Iowa juvenile facility which could appropriately treat or rehabilitate the defendant if adjudicated as a juvenile,” Moulding said.

A motive for the killing hasn’t been released. But according to court documents, the teens schemed to kill Nohema Graber, who taught at Fairfield High since 2012, over social media. They monitored her daily routines before ambushing her on a daily walk in the park, killing her and later hiding her body in the woods, authorities said.

Graber, 66, was reported missing Nov. 2, and her body was later found in Chautauqua Park. According to court documents, investigators said she suffered “inflicted trauma to the head" and her body was concealed under a tarp, wheelbarrow and railroad ties.

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