Supreme Court Will Not Consider Zoloft Defense Case
In South Carolina, Christopher Pittman is serving 30 years in jail for the grisly 2001 murder of his grandparents. Pittman was 12 years old at the time of the murders and has blamed the antidepressant prescription drug Zoloft for his psychotic behavior. The jury in the murder trial didn't buy his Zoloft defense, and now it seems that the Supreme Court isn't buying into his excuse either and has declined to review the case. After serving his time for the heinous double murder, Pittman will be released from prison when he is 42 years old.
Criminal defense lawyers for Pittman asked the Supreme Court to determine whether a 30 year prison sentence for a minor child violated his constitutional rights. Since Pittman will not be eligible for parole, his lawyers felt that 30 years in prison constituted cruel and unusual punishment. When he was sentenced for the murders, the judge was not allowed to take his age into account, and therefore Pittman is the only person in prison serving a lengthy sentence for a crime committed at such a young age.
There is a nationwide trend of harsher punishments for juvenile offenders and many are now tried as adults for serious crimes. In some cases, the age of the defendant or the type of crime committed automatically bumps the case into criminal court. While juvenile court affords more privacy and leans towards rehabilitation rather than severe punishment, when juveniles are tried as adults they are not afforded the soft touch of juvenile court and receive the identical sentences as adult offenders. There are now laws in 48 states that make it easier for prosecutors to transfer children from juvenile court into criminal court. According to the National Center for Juvenile Justice, approximately 200,000 defendants under the age of 18 are tried in criminal courts each year.
In 2001, Pittman used a pump-action shotgun to kill his grandparents, Joe and Joy Pittman, while they were sleeping. He then set fire to their home. Four years later he went to trial for the murders and his defense lawyers argued that the murders were caused by the antidepressant drug Zoloft that Pittman had been prescribed. According to a report by CBS News, Pfizer Inc., the manufacturer of Zoloft vigorously denied that the drug could have induced homicidal tendencies. It was a stretch by defense lawyers, and in the end they were unsuccessful with the Zoloft defense.
The South Carolina Supreme Court upheld Pittman's conviction and 30 year prison sentence. The justices in South Carolina determined that Pittman planned the double murder, devised and executed an escape plan and constructed an alibi and complex lie about what happened. They found that his actions were advanced for a 12-year-old child and that he deserved the punishment he received.
They also noted in their decision that children as young as 13 have been sentenced to life in prison. They rejected arguments by Pittman's defense lawyers that he was denied the right to a speedy trial and was 15 years old when he was sentenced for the murders he committed when he was 12.
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to entertain the notion that Pittman has been subjected to cruel and unusual punishment because he will spend 30 years behind bars. They were not asked to determine if Zoloft was to blame for the murders, only to determine if the sentence that Pittman received was appropriate.