Philip Chism Back in Court Day After Guilty Verdict

Photo Credit: 7News/whdh.com

BOSTON, MA - Philip Chism was in a Boston court a day after he was convicted of first-degree murder in a Salem court.

The Danvers teen raped and murdered Colleen Ritzer, 24, of Andover, his high school math teacher, in Oct. 2013. Ritzer was found in the woods near Danvers High School, raped and with her throat slashed.

Chism, 16, appeared for a brief status hearing with his lawyers on Wednesday morning in Suffolk County Superior Court, according to the district attorney’s office. His lawyers and Suffolk County prosecutors agreed to meet again on Feb. 11 in a continuation of a pending case not related to the concluded murder trial.

Chism was indicted by a Boston grand jury for attempted murder of a Department of Youth Services Worker on July 23, 2014. The attack allegedly occurred while the teen was being held at a Department of Youth Services facility in Dorchester.

The Salem Superior Court jury for the recent murder trial did not hear about this pending case, according to 7News.whdh.com.

Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said at the time that Chism was arraigned in the Suffolk County Juvenile Court, on a youthful indictment charging him with attempted murder by strangulation, assault with intent to murder, kidnapping, and two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon – a pencil and a cinder block wall.

The district attorney’s office provided the following account of the attempted murder:

The alleged incident occurred on the afternoon of June 2. Chism was in the main room of that facility, which is bordered by a low wall.

At some point, a 29­-year-­old clinician whom Chism had known for several months walked down the hallway toward the staffer. She entered a staff locker room and, within that locker room, a staff bathroom.

When he was confident another staffer was distracted, Chism kicked off his sandals – which would have made noise on the floor – and set off toward the hallway in a crouch that kept him out of the staffer’s view. As he did so, he carried a pencil in his right hand, switching it to his left hand when he opened the door to the locker room. When the victim came out of the bathroom, Assistant District Attorney Mark Zanini said, she found Chism standing about a foot away from her, staring at her.

He allegedly placed both his hands around her neck and began to choke her while pushing her back to the cinder block wall in the far left corner of the bathroom. The victim tried to scream, Zanini said, but couldn’t do so because the defendant’s hands were so tight around her throat.

When she did manage to get his right hand from her neck, he began punching her with it in the left side of her face, head, and jaw. At about this time, she was able to scream and staffers rushed in to help her and restrain Chism.

Salem Superior Court Judge David Lowy set a status hearing for Dec. 22 to discuss sentencing for the murder conviction.

>>> Ritzer Family and Community Members React to Philip Chism Guilty Verdict