A jury in Massachusetts has found Philip Chism guilty of
first-degree murder in the 2013 killing of his high school math teacher,
Colleen Ritzer.
The jurors in Essex Superior Court on Tuesday also found
Chism guilty of aggravated rape and armed robbery. He was found not guilty on a
second count of aggravated rape.
Chism was charged as an adult and faces life in prison
with the possibility of parole between 15 and 25 years, according to Carrie
Kimball Monahan from the Essex District Attorney's Press Office.
He showed no obvious emotion as the verdict was being
read. A status date in the case is set for December 22.
Chism, now 16, was charged with killing Ritzer, 24, with
a box cutter in a bathroom at Danvers High School on October 22, 2013.Ritzer's body was found a day later in woods near the
school.
"This guilty verdict, while the beginning of justice
for Colleen, is certainly no cause for celebration as there can never be true
justice for the crime committed. There remains a tremendous and painful absence
in our lives -- one that, sadly, can never be replaced," said Ritzer's
father, Tom.
"Colleen never gave up and neither will we. We will
not allow Colleen's death to define how she's remembered," he told
reporters.
During closing arguments Monday, defense attorney Denise
Regan recounted the testimony of psychiatrists, arguing that Chism has suffered
from a psychotic disorder since a young age and that he responded to voices and
hallucinations at the time of Ritzer's killing.
"When Philip Chism followed Ms. Ritzer into that
bathroom, he was not himself," Regan said before the jury.
"He didn't choose to do this."
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