"Philip Chism told details of attack, police say; Teen accused in Danvers teacher’s 2013 killing" by Laura Crimaldi, Globe Staff January 16, 2015
SALEM — Philip D. Chism told investigators he used a karate chop to subdue his math teacher in a Danvers High School bathroom on Oct. 22, 2013, covered her mouth, and then twice dragged a box cutter across her neck, inflicting a fatal wound on the second try, a detective testified Friday.
Chism, then 14, admitted during the early morning hours of Oct. 23 to killing Colleen Ritzer the prior afternoon. The admission came after he met privately with his mother and the pair signed a form waiving the teen’s Miranda rights, according to testimony and court documents.
One officer testified Chism became angered by a “trigger word” during his encounter with Ritzer. The teen told officers he struck a “meridian point” the second time he cut her neck, said Danvers police Detective Sergeant Philip Tansey said.
“He said he karate-chopped her neck, which rendered her unconscious,” Tansey said. “He talked about putting his hand on her mouth, and then he talked about dragging that box cutter across her neck without it causing any injury and then he said the second time [he hit] the meridian point.”
The account was given during the second day of a motion hearing in Essex Superior Court as defense attorneys for Chism, now 15, seek to have some of the evidence collected by police thrown out of his upcoming trial for Ritzer’s killing.
His lawyers contend the high school freshman never gave up his Miranda rights during his initial interactions with police and invoked his right to remain silent.
Officers, they said, manipulated his mother into encouraging her son to speak with investigators.
Chism’s attorneys argued that a jury should not be allowed to consider statements he allegedly made or evidence collected during those early encounters with police.
The hearing began Jan. 9 and resumed Friday. Testimony is scheduled to continue Jan. 29.
When he will be freed.
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While Tansey delivered his testimony, Diana Chism sat in the rear of the courtroom clutching a woman seated next to her. Ritzer’s mother, Peggie, wept at different times during the hearing as police detailed what happened to her daughter....
Oh, right, the victims in all this.
Thomas Grisso, retired director of the Law and Psychiatry Program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, said his studies on Miranda warnings found that some adults and “quite a number” of adolescents did not understand the right to remain silent.
He also testified that no research has been done on how adolescents make decisions during police interrogations, including the decision to waive rights against self-incrimination.
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He's a tricky sort so I'd watch out for him.
"Danvers murder suspect’s mother had voiced fears to police" by Laura Crimaldi, Globe Staff January 09, 2015
SALEM — When Diana Chism sat down with investigators after her missing 14-year-old son, Philip, had been located, she immediately sensed something was wrong and asked whether she needed a lawyer.
As the meeting at the Danvers police station went on, she learned the boy was under arrest, suspected of hurting someone, and investigators needed help finding a teacher who was reported missing. Diana Chism implored: “Oh my God. Please don’t tell me somebody’s dead.”
The meeting took place during the early hours of Oct. 23, 2013, according to testimony given Friday in Essex Superior Court. Diana Chism had reported her son missing the day before, after he was nowhere to be found when she went to pick him up from soccer practice.
The same day, popular Danvers High School math teacher Colleen Ritzer was also reported missing.
When Diana Chism spoke to police, officers did not say whom they thought her son had hurt.
“My son could have snapped,” she said, according to a recording of the interview. “I mean I don’t know. It’s possible. But he’s never been violent with me.”
The tape was played during a daylong hearing Friday as defense attorneys for Philip D. Chism, now 15, sought to have some of the evidence collected by police thrown out of his upcoming trial for Ritzer’s killing.
Philip Chism’s lawyers contend the high school freshman was not properly informed of his rights against self-incrimination during his initial interactions with police, and therefore a jury should not be allowed to consider statements he allegedly made or evidence collected during those encounters. The hearing is scheduled to resume next Friday....
Ritzer’s parents, Peggie and Tom, were also there. When details of her daughter’s death emerged, Peggie Ritzer sometimes wept or hunched over and hung her head low.
That's a real blow to them, the afterthought of an ending paragraph.
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Time for me to take a bit of a break.
