S.C. Court Rejects Killer's Zoloft Defense

Conviction Upheld Of Teen Who Blamed Prescription For Murdering Grandparents

(CBS/AP)  The South Carolina Supreme Court upheld the murder conviction Monday of a teenager who claimed antidepressants led him to kill his grandparents and set their house on fire when he was just 12 years old.

The court ruled against several arguments made by Christopher Pittman's attorneys, including the contention that he was denied a speedy trial before he was sentenced to 30 years in prison in February 2005.

Three years earlier, he had shot his grandparents, Joe and Joy Pittman, with a pump-action shotgun as they slept, then set fire to their home in Chester County.

The case generated outrage that Pittman was held for three years before his trial. He was 15 at the time of his sentencing.

His attorneys argued unsuccessfully at trial that he was involuntarily intoxicated by the antidepressant Zoloft and did not know right from wrong.

Pfizer Inc., the manufacturer of Zoloft, has said the drug "didn't cause his problems, nor did the medication drive him to commit murder."

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Video: Zoloft Murder Teen Talks (2005)

Video: 48 Hours Mystery: "Prescription For Murder"

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Zoloft is the most widely prescribed antidepressant in the United States, with 32.7 million prescriptions written in 2003. In 2004, the Food and Drug Administration ordered Zoloft and other antidepressants to carry "black box" warnings — the government's strongest warning short of a ban — about an increased risk of suicidal behavior in children.

Some evidence and testimony about the proven and reputed harmful effects of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), including Paxil and Zoloft, was allowed at trial, including anecdotal evidence of actions taken by people taking such drugs (such as one man slamming his vehicle into his ex-wife's car and house), the trial court disallowed other anecdotal because it was concerned about the reliability of such evidence compared to that of clinical studies done in a controlled environment.

In October, dozens of supporters and relatives gathered in Columbia as defense attorney Andy Vickery argued before the state Supreme Court that his client's confession was influenced by Zoloft and his youth.

Today the high court ruled that the trial court did not err in excluding the anecdotal evidence on Zoloft, as there was "an abundance of other admissible evidence found to be reliable."

The defense also made a motion regarding juror misconduct. One juror was found to have discussed the case with both his wife and a bartender once deliberations had started, and shared such information with other jurors. The court said the appellate court was correct in denying a motion for a new trial based on the claim that the conversations may have prejudiced the jury's decision.

Pittman, who turned 18 in April, is in an adult prison, where supporters visit him regularly.

[yory-2009]

There is some evidence that children taking these kinds of drugs can lead to suicide.

12yrs. old and on this strong anti-deppressant?

mmmmmmm.......

[dzfromsc]

First, while it is possible that Zoloft can increase thoughts of suicide, it is not probable. For most people, it is not the result and the benefits outweigh the side effects. Zoloft is one of the safer anti-depressant drugs on the market making it the most widely prescribed.
Second, let me agree with mitchschultz that after using Zoloft, I had absolutely no violent thoughts or my decision process. We are talking about Zoloft, not heroin...huge, huge difference.
The bottom line is that this person needs to take responsibility for his actions, medication or not.

[jshmks]

I just had some flinstone vitamins...


OMG I FEEL LIKE KILLING MY GRANDPARENTS NOW!!!! YEAA!!!!


*** rediculous.

[cathaleen]

It's just incredible that doctors perscribe these heavy duty drugs for children and parents go along with it. Adults have bad side effects from these drugs.

[russ1985]

It's like the twinkie defense of the 70s. "Oh, I ate like 12 twinkies. Let's go kill the Mayor" If you can point to any resonable outside influence, then it can be your out. But the numbers don't bear it out. millions of people take it and don't try to off loved ones.

[hologram5]

I had taken Zoloft for two weeks and had to get off of it as I felt that I had been slipped a hit of LSD. And yes, I speak from experience. I was seeing tracers, feeling very weird and not liking it at all. These children should not be on anti-depressants. There has to be another way. This is not normal nor is it good to be medicating children. There must be developemental issues with perscribing these overly strong medications to children. My opinion now, I don't think this should be done.

[afinefolly]

' ... hiking thru the garden takes a few minutes, hiking thru the virtual version of the garden taxes a few seconds ... one day hiking thru the real garden will take a few seconds instead of a few minutes ... except, if you've a garden and a satelite camera, you can take a thousand photos of your garden, and when your kid hikes through the garden: the kid swallows the garden and pukes it back up and your one acre garden becomes a wholly different and new square mile garden and you have to retake all the *** photos ... '

[gretsy]

I have been taking Zoloft 300mg. each day. I've never had thoughts of hurting anyone. When I had thought of suicide I knew my brain chemicals were out of whack. Not everyone responds to this drug but some of need it on a daily basis. Stop blaming the drug for a persons own wrong thoughts and deeds!!!!!

[makeup101]

I went through a period in my life where I did my fair share of illegal drugs - all kinds. Within the past two years, I've had several heath problems that my healthcare professional suggested antidepressants for, one of them being zoloft. The illegal "trips" I had can't hold a candle to the effects that zoloft had on me. I thought I was loosing my mind. Although I begged my doctor to take me of of the medication, she would not. She said the side effects would most likely subside. They did not they grew worse. If I, a stong-minded adult, cannot handle the mind altering effects of a medication like this (and it was a very low dose) imagine what it could do to a child. Think before you judge. Unless you've been there, you really don't know.

[toolmangler-2009]

If the company that makes Zoloft wanted to clear up this mess, they would start a clinical trial on this killer and others that have a similar physiological makeup as him. A long term study might be possible as it doesn't look as though he is going anywhere. Who knows what they might learn.

[sjw1253]

I am so tired of hearing stories of children being treated as adults in the criminal justice system.

Our society is so contradictory in putting young boys (especially) in adult jails.

Murder is a terrible crime - but for a child to have committed the crime should be treated as such. Our juvenile justice system is so ill equipped and so wrong in treating children as adults.

They clearly are hindered by many laws in participating in adult activities due to the fact that they do not have the "life experience" and "maturity" in decision making.

Clearly the kid knows what they did wrong. I do believe that Zoloft and any other "emotion calming" medications can aid in a person of any age making poor decisions. Particularly a child taking such a "numbing" medication has the greatest potential of giving a child the added push to do something they know is wrong as they do not worry about the consequences.

It is clearly time for our juvenile justice system to become stronger and to learn how to treat children when they make bad decisions - to not only punish them but to teach them what they have not learned from their parents.

[gmond]

Pre-meditation by medication. Yeah, right.

[gretsy]

I have been taking Zoloft 300mg. each day. I've never had thoughts of hurting anyone. When I had thought of suicide I knew my brain chemicals were out of whack. Not everyone responds to this drug but some of need it on a daily basis. Stop blaming the drug for a persons own wrong thoughts and deeds!!!!!

[dmotte]

Fry the little ***.

[toolmangler-2009]

Drugs that affect your moods do that by messing with your mind. With all the testing and research done on this and other drugs the manufacturing sector has more than enough info to make warning labels more effective. Doctors have been put in a survive by hook or crook mode because of litigation happy patients and ambulance chasing lawyers along with sloppy law making by the legislatures of various States and the Fed.

[frb01]

These are medicines which literally take someone who cannot function or even get out of bed, and over a period of weeks get that person functioning, so imagine how strong they are. If you have never been there you can't comment but needless to say I have had some medicine like this that made matters much worse. I don't blame everyones actions on a prescription, but still it is a consideration. And mental issues doe give everyone a blanket excuse for their actions, but we need to seriously look at how we deal with mental illness in this country.

[lindyd1947]

Everyone is affected by medicine differently, whether it be medication for your blood pressure or your mind. The wrong medicine or dosage can throw your physical system or your mind out of whack, so when you're dealing with a child, you better have a responsible adult and a "qualified" doctor handling the medication. Christopher Pittman's grandparents didn't realize how serious his medication (Zoloft) problem was and the local G.P. wasn't "educated" to be giving out antidepressants to a child. It's a real shame what has happend to Christopher Pittman in the juvenile/adult justice system in South Carolina. Maybe someday Christopher Pittman will get a second chance, but right now it looks like it will be about 30 years down the road when he is a middle-aged man. God forbid this keeps happening to the children in our country. Frontline had a show recently on juveniles in prison, and I think there are over 2,000 children/teenagers in the U.S. in prison for life, unlike any other country in the world!!

[gretsy]

I have been taking Zoloft 300mg. each day. I've never had thoughts of hurting anyone. When I had thought of suicide I knew my brain chemicals were out of whack. Not everyone responds to this drug but some of need it on a daily basis. Stop blaming the drug for a persons own wrong thoughts and deeds!!!!!

[incog-nito]

I was taking a lot of medications, until my other personality told me to stop, which I did. And now we both get along great!

[sarabee2]

For those of you who do not believe that Zoloft can make someone psychotic, manic and violent, you have a lot to learn. Even Pfizer admits that this has happened in clinical trials. Chris was not only on a very large dose of Zoloft for his size, he also had been abruptly withdrawn from Paxil shortly before starting Zoloft. You don't have to go very far on the internet to find horrific stories of Paxil withdrawal. Nor to find hundreds of stories of antidepressant induced bizarre and violent behavior. As soon as Chris was withdrawn from Zoloft he became the nice well mannered kind boy he was before he was medicated. His family weeps for him. They know this wasn't their boy who did this heinous act. They have all forgiven him and wish they could wake up from this nightmare. There are thousands of people who have lost loved ones to antidepressants through suicide or murder. It is one of the darkest chapters in the history of the pharmaceutical industry that has ever been and a public health crisis of epidemic proportions. Those of you who swear by your medication may well pay the price in mysterious health ailments down the road as your immune system is compromised and other toxic effects take hold. It is a sad day to see so many of you judging Chris when you have no clue what these drugs can do.

[sarabee2]

For those of you who do not believe that Zoloft can make someone psychotic, manic and violent, you have a lot to learn. Even Pfizer admits that this has happened in clinical trials. Chris was not only on a very large dose of Zoloft for his size, he also had been abruptly withdrawn from Paxil shortly before starting Zoloft. You don't have to go very far on the internet to find horrific stories of Paxil withdrawal. Nor to find hundreds of stories of antidepressant induced bizarre and violent behavior. As soon as Chris was withdrawn from Zoloft he became the nice well mannered kind boy he was before he was medicated. His family weeps for him. They know this wasn't their boy who did this heinous act. They have all forgiven him and wish they could wake up from this nightmare. There are thousands of people who have lost loved ones to antidepressants through suicide or murder. It is one of the darkest chapters in the history of the pharmaceutical industry that has ever been and a public health crisis of epidemic proportions. Those of you who swear by your medication may well pay the price in mysterious health ailments down the road as your immune system is compromised and other toxic effects take hold. It is a sad day to see so many of you judging Chris when you have no clue what these drugs can do.

[slim1h2o]

Sarabee,
I agree 100%.
These drugs should be banned.

I agree with Sarabee! When even the Physicians' Desk Reference states that Zoloft can cause mania, psychosis, abnormal thinking, hostility, confusion, amnesia, etc., then it is a criminal act to sentence a boy to prison who at the age of 12 was only having a reaction to this adult drug.

Even the Zoloft clones, Effexor & Luvox, state in the Physicians Desk Reference that they can cause homicidal ideation.

[toolmangler-2009]

I was taking a lot of medications, until my other personality told me to stop, which I did. And now we both get along great!
Posted by incog-nito at 11:54 PM : Jun 11, 2007


Best laugh I have had in a long time, which personality wrote this? Fives....