New trial date set for Willard Miller in teacher slaying case in Fairfield

FAIRFIELD — A judge has reset the trial for one of two teenagers accused of killing a Fairfield High Spanish teacher last year with a baseball bat.

The newest trial date is March 20, 2023.

A lawyer for Willard Noble Chaiden Miller, 16, had asked the court to reset the trial because more time was needed to complete depositions and discovery in the case.

His trial was moved out of Jefferson County to Pottawattamie County because of extensive pretrial publicity.

Miller and Jeremy Everett Goodale, 17, are each charged as adults with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit a forcible felony in the slaying of teacher Nohema Graber, 66, on Nov. 2, 2021. The teens are accused of killing Graber with a baseball bat, court documents state.

Goodale also previously asked the court to delay his trial to Dec. 5. Eighth Judicial District Judge Shawn Showers moved his trial to Scott County because of extensive pretrial publicity.

Showers also reset Miller’s suppression hearing to Nov. 2 in Jefferson County.

According to a search warrant unsealed in March, Miller told investigators he provided a wheelbarrow used in hiding Graber’s body. A witness who lived near the park where Graber’s body was found told police he remembered seeing a male pushing a wheelbarrow toward the park about midnight Nov. 2, 2021.

The teens schemed over social media to kill Graber, who had taught at Fairfield High since 2012, according court documents. They monitored her routine before ambushing her on her daily walk in the park, killing her with a baseball bat and later hiding her body, according to court documents.

If convicted, the teens face life in prison but will have a chance for parole because they are juveniles.

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