A day after their client was convicted of raping and murdering his high school math teacher, 16-year-old Philip Chism’s lawyers were back inside a court room Wednesday. Witness Dr. Richard Dudley, who met with Chism several times before his trial, testified that Chism, at the time of the murder, believed he was a ninja. “The only still image that matters in this case is the image of Colleen in the woods”, said prosecutor Kate McDougall to the jury, who deliberated for over two days.
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According to another student who also stayed behind, Ritzer started talking to Chism about how he found the new community compared to his old town of Clarksville, Tennessee. They said he changed clothes after school, then followed Ritzer into the girls bathroom, where he brutally raped, strangled and stabbed her, then carted her body outside in a trash barrel to a wooded area, where he further assaulted her. They said he possessed a bloody box cutter, women’s underwear and several credits cards belonging to the victim.
“This guilty verdict, while the beginning of justice for Colleen, is certainly no cause for celebration, because there can never be true justice for the crime committed”, said her father, Tom Ritzer. Chism was 14 at the time, while Ritzer was 24, as reported by Reuters. He later emerges with the hood of his sweatshirt still covering his head. Minutes later, he is shown emerging from the bathroom carrying the black trousers Ritzer was wearing. The prosecution further argued that Chism is manipulative and lying, and not legally insane.
Philip Chism was just 14 years old when he was charged and tried as an adult.
He will be sentenced later but could face life in prison. But recently, rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court and the highest court in MA have eliminated the sentence of life without the possibility of parole for juveniles. Adults convicted of first-degree murder in MA automatically receive life without parole.
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Judge David Lowy told the jury that to find Chism guilty of the rape in the woods, prosecutors must prove that the rape and Ritzer’s death happened in close proximity. He allegedly choked and beat the worker while in a youth detention centre in Boston. The worker suffered injuries to her face, jaw, neck and back.
