Judge Allows Zoloft Defense In Assault Case
In an unusual move, a New York judge has decided to allow a man to offer the so-called Zoloft defense at trial
“A Long Island judge has said she will allow a man accused of punching and kicking his former girlfriend to use the so-called ‘Zoloft defense.’
“The attorney for Coram resident Brandon Hampson says he plans to argue that his client became violent and beat Lisa Essling on Aug. 25, 2006, because he stopped taking the popular antidepressant Zoloft days before the attack.”
The article claims that Zoloft’s maker, Pfizer, has said there’s no evidence that withdrawal from its drug can cause violent behavior. Anyone who makes that claim has not withdrawn from an anti-depressant or other psych med. I’ve seen far too many people act oddly coming off psych meds to not believe that there’s something going on here. Of course, problems that crop up when someone initially goes on a drug like Zoloft are well known.
The defendant will have a tough time making his case in court I’d wager and the fact that he’s an alleged girlfriend beater doesn’t make me especially sympathetic to his cause.
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