The household of the Danvers math instructor killed and raped in a college lavatory says they’ll proceed to endure “senseless judicial proceedings” as they “owe it” to her and her reminiscence.
Colleen Ritzer’s household launched an emotional assertion Wednesday after her killer Philip Chism’s attorneys argued for the state Supreme Judicial Courtroom to toss his convictions and order a brand new trial.
“For more than a decade, we have fought tirelessly for justice for Colleen, but there can never truly be justice for the life that was stolen from us,” a portion of the household’s assertion reads. “We will continue to fight these senseless judicial proceedings because we owe it to Colleen and her memory.”
Chism’s attorneys based mostly their arguments to the SJC on how the decide at trial excluded brain-scan proof, which they declare would have revealed how their consumer was affected by a psychotic dysfunction.
“Let me begin by stating the obvious which is what occurred was obviously a senseless and horrific act,” lawyer Michael Schneider stated Wednesday morning.
Chism, at age 17, was convicted of raping and killing Danvers Excessive instructor Colleen Ritzer, 24, on Oct. 22, 2013, in a rest room on the college the place she had taught for lower than two years. His attorneys had argued the then-14-year-old couldn’t be held criminally accountable as a result of he suffered from a long-untreated psychological sickness.
Ritzer, of Andover, was discovered partially bare and sexually posed in a shallow grave within the woods beside the varsity, buried beneath leaves, pine needles and twigs.
Chism faces a life sentence in jail for the homicide cost, which carries parole eligibility in 25 years from the time it was handed down in 2016. That’s along with a concurrent 40-year sentence for rape and armed theft.
“If the convict’s 40-year sentence is reduced for the crimes he was found guilty, he could be eligible for parole at age 39,” Ritzer’s household stated in its assertion. “This is unthinkable, considering his later violent attack on another young woman. Colleen and our family will not be afforded a second chance. If we live in a just society, neither should he.”
The “later violent attack” referenced got here months after Ritzer died when Chism allegedly stalked and pounced on a youth providers clinician. Chism was arrested on kidnapping and tried homicide expenses.
Ritzer’s household has been crucial of the best way Chism’s authorized proceedings and rulings have been dealt with. That they had requested three consecutive life sentences with out parole eligibility, however the SJC eradicated with out parole for juvenile suspects on Christmas Eve 2013, simply two months after Ritzer’s ugly dying.
“That we, her family, and friends must even consider the possibility of reducing this convicted murderer’s sentence is unbelievable,” the household stated in its assertion Wednesday. “We should not have to continue enduring this painful process. Our family, and all those who loved Colleen and live each day to preserve her memory through kindness and love, deserve lasting justice and peace.”
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