Massachusetts teen found guilty of murdering math teacher

[NaturalHigh]

(CNN)—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.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/15/us/massachusetts-teacher-killing/index.html

[voteearlyvoteoften]

1. Parole in 15 years?

Not enough.

[951-Riverside]

2. This misguided youth made a mistake and he needs to be allowed to make ammends for it

He can't do that if he's kept in a steel cage for the rest of his life.

Keeping human beings especially youths locked up for decades is a barbaric practice that won't bring the deceased back and it costs tax payers an absurd amount of money. We already have way too many young men in prison as it is. Did you know that we currently cage around 2 million people?

I thought our penal system was about rehabilitation and reform not punishment. He needs therapy and counseling not imprisonment. 15 years is way too much.

[NaturalHigh]

3. He will never be rehabilitated. He's a psychopath.

If he's ever let out (and I frankly hope he will not be) it will be to kill somebody else. In some instances our penal system has to be about more than rehabilitation and reform; it has to be about keeping the most dangerous and irredeemable criminals away from society.

[cwydro]

4. The details of the case are pretty bad.

I'm pretty sure he's a psychopath too.

[alcibiades_mystery]

6. 951-Riverside is being sarcastic

FYI.

[smirkymonkey]

10. Personally, the details of this case would make me change my mind

about bringing the death penalty back to get rid of this sick little mofo. He doesn't deserve another day on this planet.

[voteearlyvoteoften]

5. My daughter is a 24 year old teacher

So I guess in this case I don't agree.

[TipTok]

7. Poe's law in action...

I can't tell if you are being serious...

He raped and murdered a woman with full awareness of what he is doing. He should sit in solitary for the rest of his life.

The penal is system is not solely about rehabilitation and anyone who tells you so is trying to sell you something.

[smirkymonkey]

9. Not nearly enough. He should never be free.

The sheer cruelty and viciousness of this attack (and the attempted murder of the female guard in the juvenile detention center after that) proves that he is an extreme danger to society and will most likely never be rehabilitated.

[NaturalHigh]

12. Unfortunately, if he can behave himself in prison, I fear he will be freed eventually.

Twenty-five years from now, any parole board is going to have some sympathy for someone who was incarcerated at such a young age. They'll let him out, and he'll kill again.

[smirkymonkey]

13. I doubt it. This is a local case for me. You have no idea how much the people of Eastern

Mass hate this kid. With a passion. Even liberals don't have any compassion for him. That is how brutal this crime was. He is now also being tried for the 2nd crime of attempted murder of the female guard in the juvenile correctional facility, which will most likely add on to his sentence. That is, if he makes it to his 20th birthday in prison.

[Initech]

8. WTF has happened in the last 15 years?

Shit when I was in high school (graduated 1998), the worst thing someone ever did to get back at a teacher was spitballs, or maybe knocked the trash cans down. But rape and murder? Wow... just... what the fuck! No words!

[ck4829]

11. This whole "psycho murder then showing no emotion when facing the music" needs it's own name

What drives a person to murder someone or several people over little things, they end someone else and they change their lives forever, but then when or if they are caught, they shrug at being charged, at being convicted, and at being sentenced?

Philip Chism, Craig Stephen Hicks, Robert Stewart, and it goes on.

This whole blowing up at little things but going "meh" to major things needs to be identified, it needs to be a red flag.

[Crabby Appleton]

14. What a tragedy. nt