10 victim impact statements shared during Willard Miller’s sentencing hearing

The first of two Iowa teenagers who pleaded guilty to beating their high school Spanish teacher to death with a baseball bat was sentenced Thursday to life with a possibility of parole after 35 years in prison.A judge sentenced Willard Miller after a sentencing hearing that lasted more than seven hours.Miller and another teen, Jeremy Goodale, had pleaded guilty in April to the 2021 attack on Nohema Graber. The 66-year-old teacher was fatally beaten while taking her regular afternoon walk in a park in Fairfield.During the sentencing hearing, prosecutors showed evidence pointing to the severity of Nohema Graber's death, including emails, a police interview with Jeremy Goodale, interviews with peers of Miller and Goodale and social media messages.Details shared by investigators show that Nohema Graber's murder was premeditated."According to Goodale, that planning began roughly 10 days to two weeks before her death," one investigator said during his time on the stand. Ten victim impact statements were shared during the sentencing hearing, including one shared by Nohema Graber's son, Christian Graber."I want to talk to you directly," Christian Graber said to Miller. "I still think that there's potential for you to become a decent person as well. I don't see it at the moment, but I really hope that one day you can be."Miller's sentencing comes the day after Paul Graber, the ex-husband of Nohema Graber, was buried. He died on June 29 from cancer. According to his obituary, he was 68 years old.Paul Graber had wanted to share a victim impact statement during Miller and Goodale's sentencing hearings.Goodale's sentencing hearing is currently scheduled for August. His lawyers asked for a delay for psychiatric evaluation.Information from the Associated Press was used in this article.