This story by John Lippman was first published in the Valley News on Sept. 16.
CONCORD — Robert Tulloch is serving two life sentences without the possibility of parole for his part in the murders of two Dartmouth College professors in 2001.
For years, Tulloch, who was 17 years old when he murdered Half Zantop, has been challenging his sentence on the first-degree murder conviction, arguing that it violates his rights under both the U.S. and New Hampshire State constitutions. His accomplice, James Parker, who was 16 years old when he murdered Susanne Zantop, was granted parole earlier this year and released from prison in June. Parker served slightly less than his minimum sentence of 25 years to life.
Both had pleaded guilty in April 2002.
Next week, after years of delays, Tulloch, 41, will get to argue his case before a judge in New Hampshire state court.
Tulloch contends that because he was a juvenile at the time of the murders during a house robbery attempt at the Zantop’s home in Etna that his sentence is unconstitutional.
Tulloch’s attorneys argue that a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2012 that held mandatory life sentences without parole for juveniles are unconstitutional apply to Tulloch and he should be resentenced.
The Supreme Court, in Miller v. Alabama, ruled “mandatory life without parole for those under the age of 18 at the time of their crimes violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on ‘cruel and unusual punishments,’” Tulloch’s attorneys, Richard Guerriero and Oliver Bloom wrote, quoting the decision.
Furthermore, according to Tulloch’s attorneys, New Hampshire’s State Constitution is even more restrictive in the matter than the U.S. Constitution when it comes to imposing sentences on juveniles.
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire, joined by other legal rights organizations, filed an amicus brief in support of Tulloch’s petition, stating “in allowing for this uniquely harsh sentencing practice, New Hampshire is now a clear national and international outlier,” noting a sentence of lifetime without parole for a juvenile is nowhere else imposed in the world.
Moreover, “New Hampshire is among just a handful of states that allows for the imposition of such a sentence,” the ACLU said.
The state, in its motion asking the court to deny Tulloch a new sentencing hearing, maintains the defense’s argument fails to acknowledge the full meaning of the U.S. Supreme Court decision, which “does not categorically ban life without parole” for juveniles convicted of murder.
The court, the state said, must weigh a variety of potentially mitigating factors into the juvenile’s sentence — such as home life and prior criminal record, among others — but can also take into account those “rarest” of examples whose cause are beyond the “transient immaturity of youth.”
“If, after consideration of the factors, (a) sentencer determines that the juvenile homicide offender is one of the rarest of children whose crimes reflect irreparable corruption, sentencer may constitutionally impose life without parole,” the state said.
Tulloch and Parker, both of Chelsea — Tulloch had been the senior class president — selected the Zantop’s home in Etna because, they explained later, it looked like it would be owned by someone who had money, which they wanted to pay for a trip to Australia, where they fantasized about living a life of adventure.
They entered the home on a Saturday morning using the ruse they were conducting an environmental survey but instead planned to kill the occupants and steal their credit cards and cash.
After Tulloch stabbed Half Zantop to death and Parker stabbed Susan Zantop to death, they fled with $340 in cash.
The two teenagers were arrested at a truck stop in Indiana weeks later.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Tulloch requests resentencing in Zantop case.