2nd Iowa teen charged in teacher’s killing to be tried as adult

FAIRFIELD, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa teenager accused of killing his high school Spanish teacher when he was 16, learned Thursday that he will be tried as an adult, a day after a judge rejected his accused accomplice’s request to move the case to juvenile court.

District Judge Shawn Showers ruled that the boy from Fairfield, Iowa, will be tried in November on a first-degree murder charge in the beating death of 66-year-old Nohema Graber, who taught at Fairfield High School.

The judge said the juvenile court system would not have enough time to rehabilitate the boy “for a crime of such magnitude.” If found guilty, the juvenile system would not have been able to detain the 16-year-old more than six months past his 19th birthday.

The two were both 16 when they were arrested in Graber’s killing. Graber’s body was found Nov. 3 hidden under a tarp, a wheelbarrow and railroad ties at a Fairfield city park. Police said she had been beaten to death with a baseball bat.

Fairfield is about 95 miles southeast of Des Moines.