12 questions about the Philip Chism trial, answered
Philip Chism is now a convicted murderer, more than two years after he killed his math teacher, Colleen Ritzer. What happens next? We answer some lingering questions about the case.
Philip Chism rubbed his eyes during closing arguments of his murder trial on Dec. 14.
More than two years after Colleen Ritzer was killed, and two months after jury selection began, 16-year-old Philip Chism was found guilty of first-degree murder, aggravated rape and armed robbery Tuesday afternoon. He was 14 when he was arrested and charged with killing Ritzer, his 24-year-old math teacher, at Danvers High School in October 2013.
What happens now?
Chism remains in state custody in Worcester until he is sentenced, sometime in 2016. On Dec. 22, Chism’s attorneys and prosecutors will meet to figure out when sentencing will occur. Sentencing is an opportunity for Ritzer’s family and others affected by her death to speak to the court about the impact of Chism’s actions.
Because it is a first-degree murder conviction, there will be an automatic appeal.
Chism still has to face several charges, including attempted murder, out of an attack on a Department of Youth Services counselor in Boston in June 2014. The circumstances were very similar to Ritzer’s killing. The female counselor survived.
He attacked someone else? Why didn’t the jury in Salem hear about that?
He hasn’t been convicted of that crime, and it’d be unfairly prejudicial, said attorney Peter Elikann, vice chair of the Massachusetts Bar Association’s criminal justice section who wasn’t involved in the trial. The jury’s job was to look at the Ritzer killing only, and determine whether Chism was guilty of it.
Prosecutor Kate MacDougall held up the box cutter Philip Chism used to kill Colleen Ritzer.
Why was the murder trial in adult court if Chism is only 16?
In Massachusetts, anyone 14 years old or older who is charged with murder or a second felony is automatically tried as an adult. That’s been the law since 1996, when the legislature changed the law after a 15-year-old named Eddie O’Brien was charged with killing his friend’s mother. Up until recently, 17-year-olds charged with any crime — not just murder — were considered adults. That changed in 2013.
What will the possible sentence be?
On the murder charge, Chism will automatically be sentenced to life, with parole after either 15 or 25 years. How long is up to Judge David Lowy. On the other two felonies — aggravated rape and armed robbery — the judge will have discretion on how long Chism will receive. He could be sentenced to life (with the possibility of parole after 15 years) on each charge, but that’s unlikely. It will also be up to the judge on whether the sentences are back-to-back, or concurrent.
Judge David Lowy will have the final say on when Chism is eligible for parole.
Isn’t the penalty for first-degree murder in Massachusetts life without parole? Why could Chism get parole?
It’s life without the possibility of parole for adults. And it was the case for juveniles up until two years ago, when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court said it was unconstitutional to lock up kids for life with no chance of release. Kids’ brains aren’t fully developed, so a judge can’t find that a convicted juvenile is “irretrievably depraved,’’ the state’s highest court said. The decision followed a 2012 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The argument is, generally speaking, that we can’t look at children the same way we look at adult offenders, no matter how monstrous or horrific the act,’’ Elikann said.
And yes, Chism was tried as an adult, but he’s still a juvenile in the eyes of the law when it comes to sentencing. Some day, perhaps as early as age 29 if he receives the absolute minimum sentence, he’ll have a parole hearing.
Could he really be released?
Not necessarily. He would have a hearing in front of a parole board, and it’s likely that the Essex County District Attorney’s office would argue against any release. There is little data on the number of juveniles convicted of first-degree murder and then released on parole, since the law only recently changed, Elikann said.
Prosecutor Kate MacDougall held up Colleen Ritzer’s undershirt to the medical examiner.
Experts who testified for the prosecution said Chism was “malingering’’ — faking or exaggerating his mental illness — and pointed to tests they conducted. How do you test for that?
Chism was given a battery of tests by the prosecution’s expert psychologists — including an ink blot test, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory for Adolescents, the Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms, the Miller Forensic Assessment of Symptoms Test and the Dissociative Experiences Scale.
Some of the tests can determine whether someone is “faking good’’ — making themselves look less sick than they really are — or “faking bad’’ — making themselves seem sicker. Dr. Nancy Hebben, who conducted most of the tests, concluded that Chism was faking bad.
Dr. Carol Ball, a forensic psychologist and founder of New England Forensic Associates, said the tests are reliable, and an experienced clinician would be able to tell if someone was faking.
The pattern of results from the person in question are compared to scales developed from hundreds of other people who have taken the test, Ball said. There’s a scale for psychotic, faking bad, faking good, and other diagnoses.
A still from surveillance video inside Danvers High School showing Colleen Ritzer walking to the bathroom after school on Oct. 22, 2013. Her student, Philip Chism, would follow behind her and attack her.
Chism was found not guilty of one aggravated rape count, alleging that he raped Ritzer in the woods with a tree branch. Why not guilty? Couldn’t he have been chargd with something else?
The only question jurors had during their nine hours of deliberation was on this count. Defense attorneys had argued that Ritzer was dead when she was in the woods, and when Chism violated her with a branch. A medical examiner said she couldn’t say with certainty when Ritzer died and if it was before or after the rape with the branch. Jurors apparently decided she wasn’t alive, and Massachusetts law requires a live victim to convict someone of rape. Unlike other states, Massachusetts doesn’t have a law against abuse of a corpse.
Was there anything in Chism’s past that indicated why he might do this?
His maternal grandmother and aunt had a history of psychotic disorders, and the defense pointed to those genes as indication that Chism also suffered from psychosis.
Chism’s childhood was certainly chaotic. His mother left his father after he was repeatedly unfaithful and moved in with friends in Tennessee, then moved the family to Florida with her father. They eventually moved back to Tennessee where he, his mother and two younger sisters shared one room. Chism would often retreat to his best friend’s house and spend days with their family.
Dr. Richard Dudley, the defense expert psychiatrist, said he saw a lot of “trauma-related symptoms’’ in Chism — the teenager refused to talk about some issues and seemed dissociative from his own childhood experiences, he said — but Dudley could never pinpoint what the trauma was.
Dianna Chism put her head in her hands during closing arguments in her son’s murder trial.
Chism’s attorneys admitted he did what he was accused of from the outset. Did there have to be a trial?
There could have been a plea deal, but the prosecution had no incentive to offer one, Elikann said. The prosecution had an extremely strong case and felt they could prove Chism wasn’t insane.
Chism’s attorneys wanted to be able to establish his mental illness, Elikann said, and the only way to do that was through the trial. Elikann compared it to the Boston Marathon bombing trial, where the attorneys didn’t deny guilt, but still went to trial. “They had reasons to want to give the jury a complete, whole picture of his life,’’ he said.
Does the insanity defense ever work?
Not very often. “Both jurors and the public in general look very askance at insanity defenses,’’ Elikann said. They believe that finding someone guilty by reason of insanity is letting a defendant off the hook somehow. Chism’s lawyers had an even tougher time, proving insanity in a young teenager with little medical history of mental health issues.
The Boston Globedetailed some high-profile cases from the past 20 years in Massachusetts where the insanity defense worked, and didn’t work.
Some states have a “guilty but mentally ill’’ verdict, where a defendant is found guilty, but with an acknowledgment that they also need mental health treatment.
Why did people care so much about this trial? Why did it get so much attention?
Colleen Ritzer was a young, vibrant woman killed in a place she loved and should have been safe, by her own student. “It was such a heartbreaking, horrific, monstrous thing to happen to such a wonderful young teacher,’’ Elikann said. “And she apparently did nothing, absolutely nothing to deserve anyone even slightly disliking her.’’
Scenes from the Philip Chism trial:
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