A Massachusetts man who raped and killed his teacher when he was 14 years old has pleaded guilty in an assault on a different woman, which took place while he was in custody months later.
Philip Chism was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole for the October 2013 killing of math teacher Colleen Ritzer at Danvers High School.
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In June of 2014, when Chism was 15, he allegedly attacked a Massachusetts Department of Youth Services worker at a facility in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood.
Chism, now 25, pleaded guilty to charges of attempted murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault with intent to murder and kidnapping in Boston Juvenile Court Friday.
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Chism is accused of following the 29-year-old woman into the bathroom, using a pencil as a weapon, pinning her against a wall and attempting to strangle her, leaving the victim with injuries to her head, neck, face and back.
In a victim impact statement read by Assistant District Attorney David Bradley, the victim called Chism a monster and said she still feels the terror from the attack 10 years later.
"I remember being unable to leave my bedroom for hours for fear that he’d be waiting for me, ready to kill me," the victim wrote. "True monsters exist in the world. Philip Chism is a monster, a murderer."
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The state requested a sentence of 15 to 18 years in the case, Bradley noting that there are very few juvenile defendants in the Massachusetts system with a pattern of behavior this dangerous. Chism's attorney Patrick Sparks requested a sentence of 17-20 years, saying that his client wished to take responsibility for what he's done.
Chism was sentenced to 17-20 years for the attempted murder charge and 9-10 for the other charges, to be served concurrently at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center with his time in the Ritzner case.
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