NORTH HAVERHILL, NEW HAMPSHIRE — Robert Tulloch is seeking to have his life sentence reduced to a minimum of 30 to 40 years. His resentencing hearing is scheduled to begin on Monday in Grafton County Superior Court in North Haverhill, New Hampshire, making him the last of five men in the state serving life sentences for murders committed as teenagers to undergo resentencing.

Tulloch’s defense attorneys argue that a minimum sentence in the range of 30 to 40 years is appropriate. Attorneys Richard Guerriero and Oliver Bloom stated that Tulloch’s prison records show he has had no major infractions since 2012 and no minor infractions since 2017. They also noted that his therapy records reflect significant remorse for the crime.

The resentencing stems from a 2025 ruling by Superior Court Judge Lawrence MacLeod, who found that the New Hampshire constitution categorically prohibits life sentences without parole for juveniles, deeming them cruel or unusual punishment. This decision followed a line of U.S. Supreme Court rulings beginning in 2012 that declared mandatory life without parole unconstitutional for juveniles and later applied that standard retroactively.

Tulloch was 17 years old in 2001 when he and James Parker, his high school classmate, killed Half and Susanne Zantop in their Etna, New Hampshire, home. The two entered the residence under the pretense of conducting an environmental survey. Tulloch stabbed Half Zantop, and after Parker stabbed Susanne Zantop, Tulloch also stabbed her. The pair stole $340 in cash before fleeing. Both lived in Chelsea, Vermont, at the time. They were arrested the following month at a truck stop in Indiana.

Tulloch pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life without parole. Parker pleaded guilty to being an accomplice to second-degree murder for Susanne Zantop’s death and received a sentence of 25 years to life. Parker was released on parole in 2024. During his parole hearing, he said, “I think it’s unimaginably horrible,” and added, “I know there’s not an amount of time or things that I can do to change it, or alleviate any pain that I’ve caused.”

Half Zantop was a professor of Earth sciences at Dartmouth College, and Susanne Zantop was the head of the German studies department there. The state of New Hampshire has not filed a sentencing memo indicating what sentence it will seek for Tulloch. One other juvenile lifer in the state was resentenced to life without parole after refusing to attend his hearing, while others received sentences of 25, 40, and 45 years to life.

Why It Matters

Tulloch’s case reflects a broader national shift in juvenile sentencing. A 2024 study published in the Journal of Criminal Justice found that more than 75% of juvenile lifers nationwide who have been resentenced received terms of less than 40 years. Twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia have banned discretionary life sentences for minors, underscoring evolving legal standards for crimes committed by adolescents.