First lets get right to Christina Hagar, you have been in the courthouse this entire trial, what happen there today . Reporter well, liam, even before the jury walked into the room, when we heard there was a verdict, Colleen Ritzers mother hung her head and she wept, this is a woman who has been restrained emotionally during the bulk of this trial. She went, her husband held comforted her, holding his arm around her and then the jury walked in, the foreman reading the jurys decisions as the court clerk read the charges, guilty on three of four charges. The most serious of which, of course was murder in the first degree. Lets listen to what they said. Charging the defendant philip chism with murder in the first degree, is the defendant guilty or not guilty and if guilty guilty of what . On what theory. Premeditation and extreme a trossity with cruelty. Reporter chism raped ritzer a second time. This was two years ago in the high school Danvers High School, where he was a 14year old fres
Philip chism found guilty of firstdegree murder. Chism is convicted of killing his teacher Colleen Ritzer at a Danvers High School in 2013. Chism had faced four counts in connection with this horrific crime. They found him not guilty of a separate count of aggravated rape. Steve cooper has been in the courtroom every step of the way in this trial. He joins us with more from salem Supreme Court. Steve . Reporter some dramatic moments playing out here up on the fifth floor of salem Supreme Court a little after 4 00. Thats when the jury came back after almost hours of deliberations delivering the guilty charge. The 16yearold stood and showed no reaction as he was found guilty on three of the four indictments. Chism was found guilty teacher Colleen Ritzer at danvers high back in october of 2013. The then 14yearold was found guilty on one count of aggravated rape for the rape that happened in the girls bathroom and also one count of armed robbery. The ritzer family including peggy and tom r
Heres a taste of that. The defendant, guilty or not what . On what nearry . Near theory. So the reporter so that was repeated over and over again. Each member of the jury, all 12 much emthem, eight men, four women, had to stand up in court to say, guilty, first degree murder. The jury could have found him guilty of Second Degree murder. But it did not. It went first degree murder. Its a life sentence. On the over charges, a bit of a split have you had here. Not guilty on the aggravated rape in the woods but guilt on the aggravated rape in the bathroom. Guilty of Armed Robbery of Colleen Ritzers underwear. Why they split this up, but the bottom line here is that this jury, the Phillip Chism jury, rejected the insanity defense, finding Phillip Chism, who was only 14 years old at the time of this crime, guilty, first degree murder, for the death of Colleen Ritzer. When we talked earlier, you mentioned that the Surveillance Video was the key piece of evidence in this case. Break that down
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Dunkirk Memorial American Legion Auxiliary Unit 62 Officers were recently elected for two-year terms. Seated, from left, are: Luanne VanOrd, Installing Officer