Pittman Seeks New Trial
I simply don’t know what to make of the case of Christopher Pittman who was convicted of shooting his grandparents to death when he was 12-years-old–except that it argues for how risky it is to put young children on anti-depressants. Pittman, sentenced to 30 years in prison, is seeking a new trial and a hearing on that matter is underway in South Carolina.
“Julian Sharman, a psychologist with the Department of Juvenile Justice, described the chaotic two-week period that began with Christopher Pittman’s mother abandoning the family’s Florida home in October 2001. After that, Pittman felt stress so severe that he ran away from home and later tried to commit suicide. Pittman’s father had him placed in a hospital, where he was prescribed the antidepressant Paxil.
“Soon after, Pittman’s father dropped him off at the boy’s grandparents’ home in South Carolina. Meanwhile, doctors took him off Paxil and switched him to Zoloft, a different antidepressant. Three weeks later, his grandparents would be dead, at the hand of their own grandson….”
“Earlier Wednesday, a pastor whose church Pittman’s grandparents attended, also testified.
“‘Chris, when you first met him, appeared very shy,’ Chris Snelgrove said. ‘He had a sheepish grin on his face most of the time.’
“Snelgrove said Pittman, who was very close friends with his own son, appeared changed when the boy reappeared at his grandparents’ home in October 2001.
“‘It was plain to me that something terrible had happened, something awful,’ Snelgrove said. ‘There were no conversations, only one-word replies.’”
This sure does sound like a case of someone zonked on Zoloft. Whether or not you can connect that to his crime is something I simply don’t know about. I suppose it’s possible.
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