A hearing on whether proceedings shall be moved to juvenile court was held Friday for the second defendant charged with the murder of Fairfield High School teacher Nohema Graber.

Similar to the hearing held last week for 17-year-old Jeremy Everett Goodale’s request to transfer jurisdiction from adult court, the defense for 16-year-old Willard Noble Chaiden Miller also questioned a psychologist who has evaluated the suspect, and the State questioned 8th Judicial District Juvenile Probation Officer Karen Dennler, who filed reports for both defendants opting that both should be tried in adult court. Jefferson County Attorney Chauncey Moulding read aloud some of the report, “This officer is concerned that there is no way to fully rehabilitate Willard in the time allotted in juvenile court for such a grievous and heinous act, that was not only committed against the Graber family, but the school family, her church family, and the community at large.”

It was shared during the hearing that while psychologist Dr. Craig Rypma spent up to 12 hours with Miller a few months ago, he did not finish writing a report on his findings per the defense counsel’s recommendation. District Court Judge Shawn Showers stated that he will file a written decision on the request. A decision has not yet been filed for Goodale, whose hearing happened last Thursday. Both are charged with first-degree murder, a class A felony, and conspiracy to commit a forcible felony, a class C felony, for the November 2, 2021 death of Graber. First-degree murder is punishable by life in prison in Iowa.