Chism juror could face penalties after talking about murdered teacher case
A prospective juror was put under oath and questioned after he allegedly made comments to some of the jury pool about the murder case of a teenager accused of killing his teacher.
Attorneys and Judge David A. Lowy are working to seat 16 jurors for the trial of Philip Chism, who was 14 years old when he was arrested for the 2013 rape and murder of his Danvers High School teacher, Colleen Ritzer.
Near the end of the second day of jury selection, Juror 49, an older woman, told the judge that a juror was making comments about the case to other people as they waited to go into the courtroom. Lowy stopped the questioning and brought in the 12 jurors who had already been considered acceptable as potential jurors.
Five of them had also heard outside information about the case. The judge and attorneys talked privately with each of them. One of those jurors, a young woman, was excused as a result.
The offending juror was Juror 39. He had been excused earlier in the morning after admitting that having a son who is a current Danvers High School student might influence him. He also said he had gone to a candlelight vigil the night before.
At the request of Lowy, Juror 39 was brought back to court and put under oath. Lowy told him he could be charged with criminal contempt and an attorney was in the room available to him but he declined.
Visibly shaken, he told the judge that someone asked where he was from and he replied Danvers.
“I said, ‘That’s probably why I won’t get picked,’ just thinking out loud,’’ he said, adding that he was at Danvers High School Thursday. “Because it’s wrong for me to be on this jury when I’m there every day picking up my son.’’
He said he may have mentioned going to a candlelight vigil for Ritzer in the past, but couldn’t remember. Lowy excused — and admonished — the juror, who apologized.
“What you did was a serious violation that has cost this court hours of time to other individuals,’’ Lowy said.
Defense attorney Denise Regan requested that the 12 jurors sat before the violation was discovered be dismissed. She said the information they heard is “quite damaging, and incorrect’’ — that Chism had already had a trial and he was “trying to get out of it.’’
Lowy said he’d consider the request, but wanted to question more jurors about what information they may have heard about the case. A decision will likely be made Friday morning.
“We were moving quite along and ready to get the box filled before this juror was not able to comply with the court order, or so it seems,’’ he said.
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