A Massachusetts teenager was convicted Tuesday of the brutal rape and murder of his high school teacher. Wednesday, one juror in the high-profile case spoke with necn.
Philip Chism, now 16, killed Danvers High School math teacher Colleen Ritzer in 2013, when he was just 14 years old.
"I feel like justice was served," 22-year-old Jeremy Daly said.
Daly was one of the 17 jurors who listened to every detail, much of it extremely disturbing, in the trial.
"It's impossible to get that stuff out of your head," he said. "Everything was really difficult to kind of analyze without bias, but I thought I did a good job with that."
Daly, who lives in Danvers and works in Boston, says it was difficult to see Ritzer's family so distraught.
"There were moments in the case that was tough to ignore the family, but I thought I did a good job in kind of focusing my attention on the evidence and the evidence alone," he said.
Once closing arguments were completed, Daly's number was randomly drawn as an alternate, meaning he did not participate in the deliberations.
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"It was definitely difficult. I really wish I was part of the deliberating process, but that's the legal process, and we all understood why we were alternates," said Daly. "I was ready and willing to step in at any time."
Daly says all of the attorneys did a solid job, and that the defense had an uphill battle in proving Chism was insane when he committed the crime.
"I personally did not think he was insane," he said.
Daly says Chism's age did not impact his feelings on the case.
"We were told by the judge to disregard that fact," Daly said. "He was going to be tried as an adult in this case, and we had to treat him as an adult."
After the verdict, Daly says, all 17 jurors came together and said they would have no regrets about their decision.
