АНУ-ын Дээд шүүхийн шийдвэрийн дагуу насанд хүрээгүй байхдаа гэмт хэрэг үйлдсэн этгээдүүдийн ялыг эргэн харах боломж бүрдсэнтэй холбогдуулан Роберт Таллок ялаа хөнгөрүүлэх хүсэлт гаргажээ.
2001 онд Дартмут коллежийн профессор Хальф болон Сюзанн Зантоп нарыг хөнөөсөн хэргээр бүх насаар хоригдох ял авсан Роберт Таллок даваа гарагт Графтон тойргийн Дээд шүүхэд болох шүүх хуралд оролцохоор болжээ. Тэрээр 17 настайдаа уг гэмт хэргийг хамтран үйлдэгч Жеймс Паркерийн хамт үйлдсэн бөгөөд АНУ-ын Дээд шүүхээс насанд хүрээгүй гэмт хэрэгтнүүдэд бүх насаар хорих ял оноохыг үндсэн хууль зөрчсөн гэж үзсэнтэй холбогдуулан ялаа хөнгөрүүлэхийг шаардаж байна. Өмгөөлөгчдийн зүгээс түүнийг 30-40 жил хоригдсоны дараа суллагдах боломжтой болгох нь улсын хэмжээнд ижил төрлийн хэргүүдэд баримталж буй жишигт нийцнэ хэмээн үзэж байгаа юм.
Таллокийн өмгөөлөгчид үйлчлүүлэгчээ хоригдож байх хугацаандаа засарч, гэмшсэнээ илэрхийлж, сэтгэл зүйн хувьд эерэг өөрчлөлт гарсан гэж мэдэгдэв. Тэрээр хорих ангийн дэглэм зөрчихөө больж, өөрийн үйлдсэн хэрэгтээ чин сэтгэлээсээ харамсаж буйгаа илэрхийлсэн байна. Хамтран хэрэг үйлдсэн Жеймс Паркер нь прокуроруудтай хамтран ажилласны дүнд 2024 онд суллагдсан билээ.
Шүүгч Лоуренс Маклеод өнгөрсөн долдугаар сард Нью-Хэмпшир мужийн үндсэн хууль насанд хүрээгүй хүмүүст бүх насаар хорих ял оноохыг хориглосон шийдвэр гаргасан нь Таллокт эрх зүйн боломж олгосон юм. Одоогийн байдлаар АНУ-ын 28 муж болон Колумбийн тойрогт насанд хүрээгүй хүүхдэд бүх насаар хорих ял оноохыг бүрмөсөн хориглоод байна.
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A Vermont man who was 17 when he helped kill two Dartmouth College professors more than two decades ago is asking a New Hampshire judge to reduce his life sentence, arguing he should become eligible for parole after serving 30 to 40 years.
Robert Tulloch, now 43, was automatically sentenced to life without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to first-degree murder in the 2001 stabbing deaths of Half and Susanne Zantop. But a series of U.S. Supreme Court rulings beginning in 2012 found mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juvenile offenders unconstitutional, later making that decision retroactive.
Those rulings opened the door for hundreds of people nationwide who were sentenced to mandatory life terms as juveniles to seek new sentences. Tulloch is the last of five New Hampshire inmates serving life sentences for crimes committed as teenagers to receive a resentencing hearing, which begins Monday in Grafton County Superior Court.
Prosecutors have not disclosed what sentence they intend to seek. In a court filing submitted last week, Tulloch’s attorneys argued that a sentence with parole eligibility after 30 to 40 years would be consistent with other juvenile homicide cases in New Hampshire and around the country that have been revisited since the Supreme Court decisions.
Defense lawyers Richard Guerriero and Oliver Bloom said Tulloch’s prison record reflects significant personal growth. They wrote that after disciplinary problems early in his incarceration, he has had no major infractions since 2012 and no minor violations since 2017, noting that most recent write-ups involved possessing too many books.
The attorneys also cited therapy records in which Tulloch expressed what they described as “significant remorse” for the killings, his “warped youthful thinking” and the pain he caused, while demonstrating what they called a strong capacity for empathy.
According to court records, Tulloch and his friend James Parker, then 16, devised a plan to rob and kill strangers so they could finance a move to Australia. Over several months, they posed as students conducting environmental surveys and knocked on doors in Vermont and New Hampshire before being invited into the Zantops’ home.
Susanne Zantop, 55, chaired Dartmouth’s German studies department, while her husband, Half Zantop, 62, taught Earth sciences.
Parker told investigators that Tulloch fatally stabbed Half Zantop before directing him to attack Susanne Zantop. Tulloch also stabbed her, prosecutors said. Fingerprints on a knife sheath and a bloody boot print linked the pair to the killings. After initially speaking with investigators, the teenagers fled Vermont, hitchhiked west and were arrested weeks later at a truck stop in Indiana.
Parker pleaded guilty to accomplice to second-degree murder after cooperating with prosecutors. He was granted parole in 2024 after serving nearly the minimum term of his 25-years-to-life sentence.
During his parole hearing, Parker called the killings “unimaginably horrible,” adding that nothing he could do would erase the pain he caused.
The Supreme Court rulings addressed only mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles, leaving judges free to impose such punishments in some cases. According to the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, 28 states and the District of Columbia have banned juvenile life without parole, while five additional states still allow the sentence but currently have no one serving it.
New Hampshire lawmakers have repeatedly rejected proposals to eliminate life-without-parole sentences for juveniles. However, Tulloch won a significant legal victory last July when Superior Court Judge Lawrence MacLeod ruled that the New Hampshire Constitution categorically prohibits such sentences as “cruel or unusual” punishment.
A 2024 study published in the Journal of Criminal Justice found that more than 75% of juvenile offenders resentenced after the Supreme Court decisions received terms that made them eligible for release in less than 40 years.
In New Hampshire, one juvenile offender was resentenced to life without parole after refusing to participate in his resentencing hearing or allow his attorneys to seek a reduced sentence. Others received new sentences of 25 years to life, 40 years to life and 45 years to life.
