CHARLESTON, S.C. -
A 15-year-old boy was sentenced to 30 years in prison for murdering his grandparents after jurors rejected the claim that an antidepressant clouded his judgment.
Christopher Pittman was convicted Tuesday after jurors decided that his sense of right and wrong had not been compromised by the drug Zoloft.
The prosecution countered he was simply angry at Joe Pittman, 66, and his wife, Joy, 62, when he killed them in November 2001. They had disciplined him for choking a younger student on a school bus. After shooting them as they slept, Pittman burned the couple's home and drove away in their car.
Pittman's age troubled jurors who debated whether he should be convicted as an adult for crimes committed when he was 12 years old.
"If Chris Pittman had been 25, we could have come to a decision much earlier. Because of his age it was very, very difficult," said jury foreman Arnold Hite. A university professor, he said he was speaking only for himself.
Pittman was sentenced to 30 years on each count of murder. Circuit Court Judge Danny Pieper ordered the sentences to run concurrently — the minimum penalty he could give. The maximum sentence was life in prison.
"I know it's in the hands of God. Whatever he decides on, that's what it's going to be," Pittman told the judge before he was sentenced. The teenager hung his head as the verdict was read.
Pittman's lawyers said they would file an appeal questioning whether the state can constitutionally try someone so young in adult court.
"We're devastated. We're heartbroken," defense attorney Andy Vickery said. "We're mystified the state chooses to treat a 12-year-old as an adult."
South Carolina sets no minimum age for trying defendants as an adult. Pittman's defense tried unsuccessfully last year to get the case heard in Family Court. If he had been convicted in Family Court, he could have been kept in custody only until he turned 21.
About a month before the slayings, Pittman was hospitalized after threatening to kill himself. He was prescribed the antidepressant Paxil and was later put on Zoloft. Last fall, the government ordered warnings on both antidepressants, as well as others, because of the possibility they can cause children to consider suicide.
Juror Christine Peterson, 54, the grandmother of a 12-year-old, said the panel initially was divided on the drug's impact as well as on the question of Pittman's youth.
"It bothered me a lot," she said. "It was not an easy decision. But everyone kept saying, 'Look at the evidence. Look at the evidence.'" She added: "I'm sure many of us had sleepless nights."
Pittman's father, Joe, told the judge he supports his son, even though the victims were his own parents. He also called on Gov. Mark Sanford and President Bush (news - web sites) to pardon his son.
"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."
Pittman's sister, Danielle Pittman Finchum, said on NBC's "Today" show Wednesday that her brother is not guilty and the family will keep fighting for his release.
"I think everybody failed him in some way or another. I mean, you can't go through life and not fail somebody in a certain way," she said. "We're going to fight for him and if I have to keep fighting for the next 29 years to get him out, he's not going to stay in there the full time that he's supposed to."
Prosecutors said they didn't think the Zoloft defense was viable. "I really think that was a smoke screen," prosecutor John Meadors said later. "He just happened to be on an antidepressant when this happened."
Christopher Pittman initially told police that a black man shot his grandparents, burned down the house and kidnapped him.
Prosecutor Barney Giese reminded jurors how the boy carried out the killings, saying, "I don't care how old he is. That is as malicious a killing — a murder — as you are ever going to find," Giese said.
He pointed to Pittman's statement to police in which he said his grandparents "deserved it."
Pfizer Inc., the manufacturer of Zoloft, said in a statement after the verdict: "Zoloft didn't cause his problems, nor did the medication drive him to commit murder. On these two points, both Pfizer and the jury agree."
In April, a Santa Cruz, Calif., a man who beat his friend was acquitted by a jury of attempted murder after he blamed the episode on Zoloft. But in at least two cases last year, juries in Michigan and North Dakota rejected similar claims.
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 (news - web sites) 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.
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