By PHILIP MARCELO, Associated Press
SALEM, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts judge is hearing arguments as lawyers for a teenager charged with killing his teacher seek to have statements he made to police dismissed.
Philip Chism’s lawyers say police coerced him into waiving his rights and making detailed statements about the slaying.
The 15-year-old has been charged as an adult with murder and aggravated rape in the October 2013 slaying of Colleen Ritzer, his math teacher at Danvers High School. He has pleaded not guilty.
Chism’s lawyers are expected to argue that police never properly read Chism his Miranda rights and that he had invoked his right to remain silent and his mother had requested a lawyer.
Prosecutors say Chism raped and killed Ritzer in a school bathroom and dumped her body in the nearby woods.
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