Key facts
- Robert Tulloch, sentenced to life without parole for the 2001 murders of Dartmouth professors Half and Susanne Zantop, is seeking a reduced sentence.
- Tulloch was 17 at the time of the murders and has now served 25 years.
- Supreme Court rulings in 2012 and later made mandatory life sentences for juveniles unconstitutional.
- Tulloch's resentencing hearing is the last of five such cases in New Hampshire.
- His attorneys are arguing for a minimum sentence of 30 to 40 years, citing his prison record and remorse.
A Vermont man, Robert Tulloch, who was 17 when he and a friend murdered Dartmouth College professors Half and Susanne Zantop in 2001, is seeking to have his life sentence reduced. Tulloch, now 43, was automatically sentenced to life without parole after pleading guilty to first-degree murder. However, U.S. Supreme Court rulings in 2012 and later made mandatory life sentences for juveniles unconstitutional, applying the decision retroactively.
Tulloch's resentencing hearing, the final of five such cases in New Hampshire, begins Monday. His attorneys are proposing a minimum sentence of 30 to 40 years, citing a review of similar cases nationwide and Tulloch's improved prison record. They noted that his disciplinary write-ups are largely for possessing too many books, and that he has expressed significant remorse and empathy in therapy.
Tulloch and his friend James Parker, then 16, had planned to kill strangers out of boredom before targeting the Zantops. Parker, who cooperated with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to accomplice to second-degree murder, was released on parole in 2024 after serving nearly his 25-years-to-life sentence. He expressed deep remorse for his actions during his parole hearing.
Nationwide, over 75% of juvenile lifers resentenced after the Supreme Court rulings have received sentences of less than 40 years. While New Hampshire lawmakers have previously resisted ending juvenile life sentences, a judge agreed last July that such sentences constitute cruel and unusual punishment under the state constitution.