By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org
Robert Tulloch is closer to a new sentence for his role in the double murder of an Upper Valley couple after Grafton Superior Court Judge Lawrence MacLeod ruled that the New Hampshire Constitution bars juveniles from getting life sentences without the possibility of parole.
Tulloch, 41, is in prison for the 2001 double-murder of Dartmouth professors Half Zantop, 62, and Susanne Zantop, 55. Tulloch was 17 when he and his high school friend, James Parker, then 16, killed the couple in their Etna home after picking them at random. Parker was paroled last year.
Tulloch’s lawyers, Richard Guerriero and Oliver Bloom, have been pushing for a new sentence based in part on the 2012 United States Supreme Court in Miller v. Alabama which makes clear juveniles cannot be locked up for life.
“[In Miller] the Court held that ‘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 punishment,’” Bloom and Guerriero wrote.
MacLeod’s order, issued Thursday, agrees that the New Hampshire Constitution bars Tulloch’s life sentence without parole because such sentences imposed on minors are both cruel and unusual.
“The court determines that LWOP for minors is ‘cruel’ because it effectively sentences a juvenile to death in prison, and the severity of the punishment increases with the youth of the defendant … The court is further persuaded that LWOP for minors is ‘unusual’ because it is an uncommon sentence in New Hampshire and an increasingly uncommon sentence regionally and nationally.”
New Hampshire’s Constitution is more expansive on individual rights than the United States Constitution, and New Hampshire law is generally highly protective when it comes to minors.
“For instance, New Hampshire law prohibits minors from voting, marrying, serving on juries, entering into contracts, playing bingo, dropping out of school and purchasing tobacco and alcohol,” MacLeod wrote.
New Hampshire is one of 17 states that allows juveniles to be sentenced to life without parole. Currently, the only other New Hampshire inmate serving life without parole for a crime committed as a juvenile is Steven Spader. Spader was 17 when he took part in the 2009 home invasion murder Kimberly Cates in Mont Vernon.
Gov. Kelly Ayotte was one of the prosecutors who put Tulloch and Parker behind bars. Her office did not respond to a request for comment.
New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella’s spokesman Michael Garrity said: “We will review the judge’s order and determine appropriate next steps.”
The case can move to a full resentencing hearing in front of MacLeod. Either the defense or the state could then appeal MacLeod’s sentencing decision to the New Hampshire Supreme Court. There is also the possibility that prosecutors and Tulloch’s lawyers can work out a sentencing agreement before a hearing.
Tulloch pleaded guilty after Parker reached an agreement to testify against him. Parker pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for his role in the killings and was sentenced to 25-years to life.
Parker and Tulloch, then Vermont high school students, bought knives and planned to rob and kill someone, take the money, and flee to Australia. They did not have a specific victim targeted when they began their scheme.
Parker and Tulloch reportedly tried to get into multiple homes before they gained entry into the Zantops’ home by pretending to conduct a survey. They were arrested weeks later in Indiana.