USA – — Philip D. Chism was sentenced Friday to serve at least 40 years in state prison for the rape and murder of Colleen E. Ritzer, a sentence imposed shortly after Ritzer’s parents denounced the teenager as someone “pure evil’’ who deserved to be executed. Essex Superior Court Judge David Lowy sentenced the 17-year-old Chism for the attack on Ritzer inside a second-floor girls’ bathroom at Danvers High School on Oct. 22, 2013. Chism raped, slashed, and strangled Ritzer before moving her body to nearby woods, where he violated her with a tree branch. “Colleen Ritzer lived a life of quiet heroism,’’ said Lowy. He said her death was a “brutal and senseless murder. …The crashing waves of this tragedy will never wane.’’ At a news conference after the sentencing, Ritzer’s mother, Peggie Ritzer, said the sentence was not tough enough. “Today’s sentence is unacceptable,” she said. Lowy said that Chism “did not start life on third base,’’ in part because his father was abusive and in and out of his son’s life.

(bostonglobe)…[+]