Judge orders new trial in S.C. Zoloft case

A judge ordered a new trial yesterday for a South Carolina man who blamed the antidepressant Zoloft after the then-12-year-old shot his grandparents to death and set their home on fire.

Circuit Judge Roger Young said Christopher Pittman’s defense team made several errors, including not pursuing a plea deal or explaining that a deal could have meant a shorter sentence.

Young presided over a three-day hearing last year to determine whether Pittman, now 21, should get a new trial in the 2001 deaths of his grandparents, Joe and Joy Pittman. Pittman shot the couple while they slept, set fire to their home in Chester, about 50 miles north of Columbia, and took off in the family car.

He initially told police a black man killed his grandparents and set the fire. He later admitted to the crimes, saying he shot them because they disciplined him after a school bus fight.

At his 2003 trial, Pittman’s lawyers argued that the prescription drug Zoloft caused him to become manic and commit the slayings. Pittman was convicted on two counts of murder and sentenced to 30 years. He has lost appeals to the South Carolina and US Supreme Courts.

Pfizer Inc., the manufacturer of Zoloft, said in a statement after the verdict that the drug "didn’t cause his problems, nor did the medication drive him to commit murder."

(Published by The Boston Globe – July 28, 2010)