Guilty as charged! 16 year old convicted of murder and rape of his mathematics teacher

Chism sat stoic as the jury came back after 10 hours of deliberating with guilty verdicts on three of the four charges. Credit: Aram Boghosian/AP — Chism sat stoic as the jury came back after 10 hours of deliberating with guilty verdicts on three of the four charges. Credit: *Aram Boghosian/AP*

A teenager faces a life-in-prison sentence after being found guilty of first-degree murder and aggravated rape in the death of his Danvers high school mathematics teacher, Colleen Ritzer

Phillip Chism, at 14, was accused of using a box cutter to stab his 24-year-old teacher and then violating her in the woods, where her body was found.

After 10 hours of deliberation, a jury found Chism, now 16, guilty of three out of four charges against him. They include first-degree murder; aggravated natural rape, which took place in the school bathroom; and armed robbery.

He was pronounced not guilty to a fourth charge of aggravated unnatural rape.

Defense lawyers, during trial, admitted that Chism killed Ritzer but said he was suffering from severe mental illness.

A fellow student testified that the popular teacher asked Chism to stay after school so she could engage him in light talk about his new community compared with his old. At the time, Chism had just moved to Massachusetts from Clarksville, Tennesse.

Ritzer was doing her dream job, teaching math, prosecutors told the court.

Video from surveillance cameras played during the trial showed Chism following Ritzer into a bathroom, wearing a hood and putting on gloves.

A bloody box cutter, mask, gloves and a hooded sweatshirt were later found in his backpack by police who found Chism walking beside a highway in neighboring Topsfield.

Chism now faces life in prison on the first-degree murder charge.

However, as a juvenile, he cannot receive a life sentence without parole following decisions by the US supreme court and the supreme judicial court of Massachusetts..