CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A judge wants New Hampshire's highest court to weigh in on the case of a man who pleaded guilty as a teenager to the 2001 stabbing deaths of two married Dartmouth College professors and is challenging his sentence of life without parole.
Robert Tulloch, 41, was 17 when he killed Half and Susanne Zantop as part of a conspiracy he and his best friend concocted to rob and kill people before fleeing to Australia with their ill-gotten gains.
He awaits a resentencing hearing after the U.S. Supreme Court decided in 2012 that mandatory life sentences without parole for juveniles amount to “cruel and unusual” punishment. The New Hampshire attorney general’s office has not yet recommended what term Tulloch should serve when he's resentenced; it hasn't ruled out life without parole.
Tulloch's lawyer, Richard Guerriero, argued before Judge Lawrence MacLeod in September that the New Hampshire Constitution prohibits the life-without-parole sentence. The state attorney general's office disagreed.
But both sides appeared to agree that if the state constitution allows them, a court needs to determine that a child is permanently incapable of change, MacLeod said in his ruling, which was released Monday. Both sides disagreed on how to arrive at that determination and the facts the sentence is based on, MacLeod said.
The judge noted that “the constitutional issues in this case are significant and complex and have not yet been addressed by the New Hampshire Supreme Court." He directed both sides to prepare arguments for the higher court's consideration.
“We agree that this is an important issue which should be decided by the Supreme Court and we look forward to the litigation there," Guerriero said in a statement Tuesday.
A message seeking comment was left with the attorney general's office.
At least 28 states have banned such life-without-parole sentences for crimes committed when the defendant is a child. Efforts to pass similar legislation in New Hampshire have not succeeded.
Tulloch’s friend, James Parker, 40, was released from prison on parole in June. He was 16 when the crimes were committed. Parker had pleaded guilty to being an accomplice to second-degree murder in the death of Susanne Zantop. He served nearly the minimum term of his 25 years-to-life sentence.
Parker agreed to testify against Tulloch, who had planned to use an insanity defense at his trial. But Tulloch changed his mind and pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.