By DAMIEN FISHER. InDepthNH.org
Robert Tulloch spent more than two decades in prison for the murders of an Upper Valley couple he committed as a teen, and he is another step closer this week to a possible release.
Grafton Superior Court Judge Lawrence MacLeod is standing by his ruling that life sentences without the possibility of parole, like the one Tulloch is serving, are unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishments for minors.
MacLeod denied a reconsideration motion this week from prosecutors who want to keep Tulloch behind bars for life. The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office could appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court, but is not saying if it will yet.
“We will review the order and respond as appropriate in court,” DOJ spokesman Michael Garrity said.
Tulloch has been seeking a new sentence in the case since 2018, when his attorneys first raised the question over his life sentence without parole. After years of litigation, MacLeod ruled in July that sentencing a minor to a prison forever violates the New Hampshire constitution’s Article 33, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishments.
Prosecutors asked MacLeod to reconsider his ruling, arguing that he erred by relying on legal standards not used in New Hampshire. First, he used the “evolving standards of decency” framework used in federal cases but not by the New Hampshire Supreme Court, prosecutors argued. Second, prosecutors argue that the judge used out-of-state legal rulings to come to his conclusions instead of sticking to New Hampshire arguments.
MacLeod rejects the notion he followed the wrong legal path. While the New Hampshire Supreme Court has not formally adopted the “evolving standards of decency” framework in any case, MacLeod noted the Supreme Court follows federal rulings which do use that framework. Further, New Hampshire is historically more progressive in protecting minors than federal courts, he wrote.
“New Hampshire’s historical practice of affording minors greater protections and process indicates that New Hampshire courts already consider contemporary standards of decency in cases involving minors,” MacLeod wrote.
As for using rulings from other states, MacLeod wrote it is entirely appropriate for New Hampshire judges to look at how other state courts resolve serious questions.
“[T]he court is not persuaded that, in interpreting a constitutional issue of first impression, it is relegated as a matter of law to considerations of law or history bounded within New Hampshire. Indeed, New Hampshire law suggests that in such circumstances it is both appropriate and necessary to consider the experiences of other states and federal courts,” MacLeod wrote.
If the Attorney General’s Office does not seek an appeal, Tulloch, 41, could soon get a new prison sentence, and a possible parole date.
Tulloch was 17 when he and his high school friend, James Parker, then 16, murdered Dartmouth professors Half Zantop, 62, and Susanne Zantop, 55, in their Etna home in a shocking 2001 crime.
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. He has since been released on parole.
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.