Murder Zoloft* 28/11/2001 South Carolina +12 Year Old Kills His Grandparents
Summary:
Paragraphs 2 through 5 read: "The defense's 20th and final witness, a former U.S. Food and Drug Administration official familiar with the effects of Zoloft and other antidepressants, was unwavering in his opinion that Christopher Pittman did not know right from wrong when he used a shotgun to kill Joe Pittman, 66, and Joy Pittman, 62, as they slept.
"Do you have an opinion as to whether on Nov. 28, 2001, this young man Christopher Pittman was involuntarily intoxicated by Zoloft?" leader defense attorney Andy Vickery asked.
"Yes, I do," Dr. Richard Kapit said. "I believe he was."
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Updated Feb. 10, 2005, 7:06 p.m. ET
CHARLESTON, S.C. ? The defense rested Thursday in the case of a 12-year-old boy who confessed to killing his grandparents but now blames an antidepressant for fueling his rage.
The defense's 20th and final witness, a former U.S. Food and Drug Administration official familiar with the effects of Zoloft and other antidepressants, was unwavering in his opinion that Christopher Pittman did not know right from wrong when he used a shotgun to kill Joe Pittman, 66, and Joy Pittman, 62, as they slept.
"Do you have an opinion as to whether on Nov. 28, 2001, this young man Christopher Pittman was involuntarily intoxicated by Zoloft?" leader defense attorney Andy Vickery asked.
"Yes, I do," Dr. Richard Kapit said. "I believe he was."
"Do you have an opinion," Vickery continued, "whether that involuntary intoxication by Zoloft affected his ability to form criminal intent?"
"Yes, I believe he didn't have the ability to form criminal intent," Kapit said. "The [medication] chemically induced anger in him."
Kapit, who retired from the FDA after 16 years, contacted the defense after reading about the case in August.
On cross-examination, jurors learned that Kapit has not practiced as a psychiatrist since 1984 and only met with Christopher, now 15, for three hours almost three years after the killings.
Prosecutor John Meadors used his cross-examination to remind jurors of testimony that Christopher first tried to blame the killings on a black man and later confessed to shooting his grandparents intentionally because they disciplined him.
Kapit was more argumentative with the prosecutor than other defense witnesses. He resisted Meador's efforts to establish that blaming an imaginary assailant is proof that Christopher knew what he was doing was wrong.
"Blaming someone else for something you have done is no evidence at all about whether you know right from wrong," Kapit said.
He offered the analogy of a fox fleeing a henhouse; the mere fact that the fox fled after attacking the chickens is not proof that it knew its conduct was wrong, Kapit said.
When Meadors pointed out that Christopher burned down the couple's house and told police that he was trying to cover up the killings, Kapit said that arson is a sign of mania and that much of what Christopher told people right after the killings is not reliable because of his mental state at the time.
If jurors believe it, too, and find Christopher not guilty by reason of mental disease, he likely would be confined to a forensic hospital for an undetermined period. If he is convicted of murder, Christopher faces 30 years to life in prison.
Because prosecutors bear the burden of proof, they are allowed to call witnesses to rebut issues raised by the defense. In this case, they wasted no time calling Dr. Pamela Crawford, a court-appointed forensic psychiatrist, to counter the heart of the defense's case.
Among other things, Crawford testified that: - Christopher repeated his detailed confession, including his opinion that his grandparents deserved to die, two weeks after the killing. She said Christopher told her that Joe Pittman deserved to die because he beat Christopher with a paddle and Joy Pittman deserved her fate because she did not stop it.
- Melinda Rector, Christopher's aunt, told her that Christopher was grounded for two weeks for kicking Rector's dog and trying to shove a pen up the pet's nose. Rector downplayed the incident when she testified.
- Christopher reported that he was taking 50 mg of Zoloft per day, the same dosage his family doctor testified he prescribed. A defense witness said Christopher suggested he was taking 200 mg per day.
- The killings, the fire, Christopher's fleeing the scene and the lies he initially told all indicate that he knew what he did was morally and legally wrong.
- Christopher referred to the victims as "my grandparents" and never once used the affectionate terms "Pop-Pop" and "Nanna," as family members testified was Christopher's usual practice.
- Her diagnosis was that Christopher suffered from a "conduct disorder." Crawford said that his descriptions of the killing showed planning and patience and that he knew right from wrong.
On cross-examination, defense attorney Paul Waldner suggested that Crawford was far from being the objective evaluator that the court who assigned her the case would have wanted her to be. Crawford responded that her job was simply to determine whether Christopher knew right from wrong and whether he suffered from any mental illness that would make it impossible for him to conform to the law.
Crawford was then asked if she could say anything "good" about Christopher.
"I think I could say he had a horrific life," she said. "I think one could not help be sympathetic about his life, in terms of abandonment issues and things like that."
Closing arguments are expected to be delivered Monday.
The trial is being broadcast by Court TV and streamed live by Court TV Extra.