State drops resistance to expert witnesses in Fairfield murder trial

FAIRFIELD — Another hearing was held Wednesday in the case of Fairfield teen Willard Noble Chaiden Miller, who will stand trial for murder next month.

Miller is accused of murdering Fairfield resident Nohema Graber in November 2021. His defense attorney, Christine Branstad, requested that the state public defender’s office cover the cost of expert witnesses to testify in his trial, which will begin April 24 in Council Bluffs.

The prosecution, represented by Jefferson County Attorney Chauncey Moulding, had initially resisted this motion to hire expert witnesses at state expenses. Moulding said he feared that hiring a number of witnesses so close to the trial date would force him to hire expert witnesses of his own to rebut the defense witnesses.

After Wednesday’s hearing, Moulding said he’s fine with the state public defender’s office paying for the cost of defense witnesses. He said the defense plans to call a psychologist to testify, but it is not planning to have Miller psychologically evaluated. With that now known, Moulding said he does not plan to call a psychologist to testify for the prosecution.

“The state believes the evidence will prove its case without psychological evidence,” Moulding said. “It’s about what they did, not about how their brains worked.”

Moulding said he is finalizing his witness list for trial. He said the prosecution plans to call witnesses such as law enforcement officers from the Fairfield Police Department, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, Division of Criminal Investigation, private citizens who witnesses various events, Fairfield High School Students, and officials from the State Medical Examiner’s Office.

The defense has not released a list of witnesses it plans to call. The list of expert witnesses (and how much it would cost to hire them) includes a crime scene analyst for up to $10,000; a digital forensic expert for $9,000; a social psychologist for $7,000; a clinical psychologist for $5,000; and an investigator for $3,500.

The final hearing before April’s trial in Council Bluffs will be the pretrial conference on March 29. At that hearing, the two sides will discuss a motion by the defense to suppress evidence. The defense has raised objections about the manner in which the state obtained evidence from Miller’s cellphone and during his interrogation in early November 2021, as well as information obtained from his co-defendant Jeremy Everett Goodale, who was also charged with Graber’s murder.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com