Update on Trials Around the Country (Dec. 7, 2015)

Philip Chism—Massachusetts Student Charged with Murdering Treacher The murder trial of Philip Chism continues this week. The defense is presenting evidence that Chism was legally insane on October 22, 2013 when he murdered his high school teacher, Colleen Ritzer, at school. A defense expert testified that Chism was in the midst of a psychotic break when he killed her then walked around the school covered in blood. Chism had moved from Tennessee to Danvers, Massachusetts just weeks before the murder. As we have seen over and over in trials where the defense asserts an insanity defense, it is a high bar to meet. Basically, in order to be found legally insane, the defense needs to convince 12 jurors that the accused did not know right from wrong. A classic example is where a person is so out of it, that…