Zoloft Defense Trial
South Carolina vs Pittman

Associated Press
By BRUCE SMITH
28 February 2005

Judge to take up motions, Pittman supporters to gather

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - A state judge will consider Tuesday whether a 15-year-old boy who claimed Zoloft led him to kill his grandparents should get a new trial or have his 30-year sentence reduced.

Supporters of Christopher Pittman planned a candlelight vigil Monday evening outside the Charleston County Courthouse and planned to gather there again Tuesday before Circuit Court Judge Danny Pieper takes up post-trial motions.

Pittman was convicted of murder and sentenced for shooting his grandparents, Joe Pittman, 66, and Joy Pittman, 62, in their Chester County home in November 2001.

Pittman, who was 12 at the time, burned the home and drove away in the family car. He was tried as an adult and Pieper sentenced him to the minimum prison term allowed by state law.

The defense contended Pittman was involuntarily intoxicated by the antidepressant Zoloft and didn't know right from wrong when he killed his grandparents with a shotgun.

Prosecutors said he was simply angry at his grandparents because they disciplined him for choking a younger student on a school bus.

The defense has asked Pieper to reduce Pittman's sentence to time served and allow him to serve probation until he is 21. If he had been convicted in Family Court, Pittman could have only been held in prison until he was 21.

Defense attorney Andy Vickery argued in the motion that trying Pittman as an adult violated the U.S. Constitution's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

"How then can a civilized society assess the same culpability for, and impose the same punishment on, a 12-year-old as you would impose on a grown man?" Vickery asked in the motion.

A second defense motion seeks a new trial alleging juror misconduct.

One of the jurors, the motion said, discussed the case outside the jury room, despite Pieper's warnings not to discuss the case. The jury was not sequestered during deliberations.

Pieper summoned the juror to his chambers several days after the verdict. While the juror "downplayed the event," the motion said if the judge had discovered the discussion before the verdict, that juror would have been dismissed.

The first alternate juror, who would have replaced him, felt strongly Pittman was not guilty and "her involvement as a deliberating juror may have resulted in an acquittal," the motion argued.

A Web site is asking supporters to sign an Internet petition to be sent to Gov. Mark Sanford seeking a full pardon and immediate release for Pittman.

Sanford's office has said while the governor can commute a death sentence, he has no authority to issue a pardon. The state Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services issues pardons in South Carolina.

The Web site also asks people to wear a white ribbon or display one on their homes or cars as a sign of solidarity with Pittman.

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On the Net: http://www.christopherpittman.org/