Verdict for teen accused of raping, killing teacher

'He didn't choose to do this'

By Douglas Ernst
Published December 15, 2015 at 5:34pm

Colleen Ritzer (Family photo)

A Boston jury has found a 16-year-old teenager guilty of killing his teacher in 2013.

Philip Chism was charged as an adult for the first-degree murder of teacher Colleen Ritzer. An Essex Superior Court found him guilty on Tuesday.

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Ritzer, 24, was slain with a box cutter in a bathroom at Danvers High School in Danvers, Massachusetts, on October 22, 2013. Her body was found days later in nearby woods.

Defense attorney Denise Regan attempted to use an insanity defense this week, but the court found her client competent to stand trial.

"When Philip Chism followed Ms. Ritzer into that bathroom, he was not himself," Regan said Tuesday, CNN reported. "He didn't choose to do this."

Chism showed no emotion as the jury returned its verdict. He was also found guilty of aggravated rape and armed robbery.

"There is not one single person in this courtroom who wants to believe that a 14-year-old-boy could have done this and not be crazy," prosecutor Kate MacDougall said. "But doing something so awful does not make you crazy."

See what American education has become, in “Crimes of the Educators: How Utopians Are Using Government Schools to Destroy America’s Children.”

A status date in the case is set for December 22.