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Jury rejects Zoloft defense, convicts teenager of murder

CHARLESTON, S.C. - A 15-year-old who said the antidepressant Zoloft drove him to kill his sleeping grandparents and burn their house down was convicted of murder Tuesday and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Christopher Pittman, now 15 and being tried as an adult, hung his head as the jury's verdict was read after about six hours of deliberation.

"I know it's in the hands of God. Whatever he decides on, that's what it's going to be," Pittman told Circuit Judge Danny Pieper shortly before the sentence was pronounced. The judge's only other option was life behind bars.

The case was one of the first of its kind to come to trial in the United States since the government began taking a close look at the dangers of antidepressant use among teenagers.

Defense attorneys told jurors the then-12-year-old's mind was so clouded he couldn't tell right from wrong when he killed his grandparents, torched their home and then drove off in their car in November 2001.

But prosecutors said Pittman was motivated by anger because his grandparents disciplined him for choking a younger student on a school bus - and they reminded jurors of the vicious nature of the crime: Both Joe Pittman, 66, and his wife, Joy, were killed by shotgun blasts to the head as they slept. Afterward, he told police they "deserved it."

Pittman's father, Joe, told the judge he supports his son even though the victims of the November 2001 shootings were his parents.

"I love my son with all of my heart, as I did my mom and dad," he said. "And mom and dad, if they were here today, would be begging for mercy as well."

Christopher Pittman cried as other family members asked for mercy before sentencing.

Prosecutor Barney Giese said he has sympathy for the teenager, "but I also have sympathy for Joe and Joy Pittman."

Christopher Pittman had been hospitalized when he lived in Florida. He ran away from home there and then threatened to kill himself about a month before the slayings.

Initially, the youngster told police an intruder had shot his grandparents and burned the house and kidnapped him. Prosecutors said the Zoloft defense was just another smokescreen.

Zoloft is the most widely prescribed antidepressant in the United States, with 32.7-million prescriptions written in 2003. Last October, 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.

[Last modified February 16, 2005, 01:28:10]