Public can view interrogation of teacher slaying suspect

SALEM, Mass. - A judge has ruled that the public is entitled to see and hear the recorded police interrogation of a Massachusetts teenager charged with killing his math teacher, Colleen Ritzer.

The Superior Court judge said Wednesday that "under our common law, judicial records are presumptively available to the public."

The Salem News reports that the judge did agree to a defense request to delay the release of the material a week to give the defense a chance to appeal.

Media organizations wanted the interrogation made public.

Sixteen-year-old Philip Chism is charged with first-degree murder and rape in the October 2013 death of Ritzer, 24, his math teacher at Danvers High School. Chism was 14 at the time.

Chism's attorneys had argued that the interrogation is "inflammatory" and would prejudice potential jurors.