Mass. Teenager Found Guilty of Raping, Murdering Math Teacher

The jury acquitted him of one count of aggravated rape. Prosecutors say Chism attacked the woman inside a women’s restroom, and her body was later found in a wooded area outside the school.

The verdict came at the very end of the day, after nearly nine hours of deliberation, which began Monday afternoon.

One of his attorney’s said, “When Philip Chism followed Miss Ritzer into that bathroom, he was not himself”.

WCVB reports that Philip Chism has been found guilty of raping and murdering his former math teacher, Colleen Ritzer.

The teen faces life in prison on the first-degree murder charge.

Danvers High School teacher Colleen Ritzer is seen in this undated picture provided by Ritzer’s family. Assistant District Attorney Kate MacDougall told the jurors that doing something very bad doesn’t make you insane.

Defense attorney Denise Regan said jurors must be certain beyond a reasonable doubt that Chism wasn’t mentally ill.

But a prosecutor said Chism “knew right from wrong and could choose right from wrong”.

Colleen Ritzer’s body was found near a MA high school on Wednesday, October 23, 2013.

Dianna Chism, center, mother of Philip Chism, reacts as a guilty verdict is read Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015 during the his trial in Salem Superior Court, in Salem, Mass. Chism was convicted Tuesday in the 2013 slaying and rape of Colleen Ritzer, a 24-year-old algebra teacher at Danvers High School, about 25 miles north of Boston.

Lawyers for the prosecution and defense portrayed Chism in terms that were worlds apart.

After some time, Ritzer left the classroom and – in a video shown to the jurors – she could be seen going to the bathroom down the hallway.

During his trial, his lawyer admitted Chism killed Ritzer, but said he was suffering from severe mental illness and was not criminally responsible for his actions.

Later, a bloody box cutter, mask, gloves and a hooded sweatshirt were discovered by the police in his backpack.

Chism then tossed Ritzer’s remains in a recycling bin and wheeled it out back of the school, where he dumped the beloved teacher’s body in the woods. As a juvenile, he can not receive a life sentence without parole – something that is automatic for normal adult offenders.