CHARLESTON - Attorneys for Christopher Pittman amended a motion Tuesday seeking a new trial for the 15-year-old who was convicted of two counts of murder despite his claim that the antidepressant Zoloft led him to kill his grandparents.
The motion is essentially the same as one filed after Pittman's conviction last month. It asks Circuit Judge Danny Pieper to grant a new trial because of juror misconduct and the prejudice attorneys say it caused Pittman.
Pittman was convicted Feb. 15 of two counts of murder in the shotgun slayings of his grandparents -- Joe Pittman, 66, and Joy Pittman, 62 -- in their Chester County home in November 2001. Pittman was 12 at the time.
Accompanying the motion was a brief filed under seal, apparently relating to juror deliberations. Last week, the jurors were summoned back to court and questioned privately in Pieper's chambers about their deliberations with attorneys present.
Afterward, Pieper said there appeared to be no indication that anything from the conversation the juror had outside the courtroom made it into the jury room.
Prosecutors did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Tuesday. Pieper has said he would give prosecutors a week to respond to the defense's revised motion.
Staff Writer Nichole Monroe Bell contributed.
