Judge moves trial for Iowa teen charged in teacher’s death

FAIRFIELD, Iowa (AP) — The trial for a 16-year-old teen accused of killing his high school Spanish teacher will be held in Council Bluffs in western Iowa, a state court judge said Monday.

Judge Shawn Showers ordered the trial for Willard Miller of Fairfield to be moved about 200 miles (322 kilometers) from Fairfield in southeast Iowa to Council Bluffs. The order said Miller, his attorneys and the prosecutors agreed to move the trial away from Fairfield, where the case had received extensively publicity. The trial is set to begin Nov. 1

Miller and classmate Jeremy Goodale, 17, will be tried as adults, facing first-degree murder charges in the beating death of 66-year-old Nohema Graber, who taught at Fairfield High School.

Graber’s body was found Nov. 3 hidden under a tarp, a wheelbarrow and railroad ties at a Fairfield park. Police said she had been beaten to death with a baseball bat.

The location of Goodale’s trial, set for Aug. 23, has not been set.