SALEM, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com/AP) - On Tuesday morning, the murder trial of 16-year-old Philip Chism resumed with the judge rejecting the defense's motion to throw out an aggravated rape charge.
Chism is charged with rape and murder in the October 2013 slaying of 24-year-old Danvers High School math teacher Colleen Ritzer.
The prosecution rested its case on Monday after calling Dr. Anna McDonald, a medical examiner who testified that the attack on Ritzer was so violent that it was impossible to determine if she was already dead before being attacked in woods behind the school.
Prosecutors say the attack began earlier in a girl's bathroom inside the high school.
Defense attorneys have acknowledged that Chism, who was 14 at the time, killed Ritzer, but they contend he has severe mental illness and is not criminally responsible for his actions.
Chism's grandfather Eduardo Barbieri was the first defense witness to take the stand in court Tuesday and for the first time, the issue of mental illness was raised. Barbieri told the jury that his ex-wife, Chism's grandmother, battled mental health issues and was hospitalized for it in Salem in the mid 1970s.
"She had shock treatment, not only once, but many times," he said.
When asked if she was in the hospital for a long time, Barbieri said, "yes."
In court, Chism did not look at his grandfather, nor did he look at other witnesses who testified they helped the Chism family and were close to them in Tennessee, before the Chism's moved to Danvers in 2013.
He also didn't appear to even acknowledge Tanner Carter, a lifelong friend from Tennessee.
"If you were to say, Philip is my pretty much like my brother," Carter said.
Carter's mother testified Chism was respectful towards her, but he was different around his own mother.
"There was a time that my husband addressed it with him that if he was going to come around, stay around, he was going to be respectful to her," Sabrina Carter said.
The murder of Ritzer took place only weeks after Chism started at Danvers High School. A fellow student said he was acting strangely just before the murder.
Wednesday will be a long day for the jury as they will see the crime scene for the first time after morning testimony.
Cox Media Group
