Chaiden Miller seeks trial as juvenile

Legal representatives for Fairfield teen Willard Noble Chaiden Miller, who is accused of killing Fairfield High School Spanish Teacher Nohema Graber, has filed to have him tried in Juvenile Court, rather than as an adult.

“Miller was born in 2005 and was 16 years old at the time of the alleged acts,” the motion for a reverse waiver said, citing portions of the Iowa Code it claimed as supporting the motion.

Filing to resist the move on behalf of the state, Jefferson County Attorney Chauncey Moulding said the prosecution strongly disagreed.

“Murder in the First Degree is a forcible felony under Iowa Code 702.11(1),” Moulding said. “Forcible felonies alleged to have been committed by juveniles 16 years of age or older at the time of the offense are excluded from the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Court unless good cause is shown, as set forth in Iowa Code.”

Moulding said the move to Juvenile Court would unacceptably shorten Miller’s sentence.

“There could be no reasonable prospects for rehabilitating the child in the Juvenile Court system before the Defendant turns eighteen and ‘ages out’ of that system,” he wrote. “If the 16-year-old defendant is processed under the Juvenile Court system and adjudicated on a charge of murder in the first degree, the adjudicating court would lose jurisdiction over the Defendant at eighteen, and justice would not be done. The State believes there is no reasonable prospect of rehabilitating a premeditated murderer in less than 24 months.”

According to a criminal complaint that led to the charges against Miller and co-defendant Jeremy Goodale, Miller “admitted to being in Chatauqua City Park as the murder was taking place, providing materials utilized in committing the murder, and aiding in actions taken to conceal the murder,” but not to personally carrying out the fatal act itself.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com