COLUMBIA, S.C.-
A 12-year-old boy’s confession to police that he killed his grandparents and set their house on fire was influenced by his age and an antidepressant, an attorney told the South Carolina Supreme Court on Thursday.
Christopher Pittman, now 17, didn’t understand the severity of his confession five years ago, attorney Andy Vickery argued in an appeal for a new trial.
Pittman is serving 30 years in prison after being convicted last year of killing his grandparents in their Chester County home in 2001.
Vickery said the case should have stayed in juvenile court, where a conviction would have sent Pittman to a facility until he turned 21.
The Family Court judge who first heard Pittman’s case “waived his exclusive jurisdiction over this young man,” Vickery said.
Defense attorneys have argued Pittman was involuntarily intoxicated by the antidepressant Zoloft and did not know right from wrong.
Prosecutors said Thursday that Pittman was properly read his rights and his confession was valid.
“All the i’s were dotted, all the t’s were crossed in this statement,” Assistant Attorney General Creighton Waters told the five justices.
The youth’s actions, such as setting fire to his grandparents’ home and initially lying to investigators, show he knew the killings were wrong, prosecutors said.
Pfizer Inc., the manufacturer of Zoloft, said in a statement after the verdict last year that 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.”
Zoloft is the most widely prescribed antidepressant in the United States, with 32.7 million prescriptions written in 2003. In 2004, the Food and Drug Administration 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.
Pittman’s attorneys also said he was denied a speedy trial. Pointing to a life-size cardboard cutout of the boy at age 12, Vickery said jurors saw a drastically different person when Pittman went to trial at age 15. At that point, Pittman looked more like a grown man than the 5-foot-2, 96-pound boy he was during the killings, Vickery said.
Chief Justice Jean Toal said a ruling on that issue would open the door for future defendants to object unless their trials began the day after an arrest.
“If we adopt your point of view, how could you ever try an individual if they change their appearance before trial?” she asked. “What is the standard we are going to use?”
Waters said that regardless of Pittman’s appearance, jurors ultimately determined that he intended to harm his grandparents.
“If they thought the defendant lacked capacity in the first place, they’d acquit,” he said.
Vickery asked the justices for a speedy decision, saying his client was scheduled to be moved from a juvenile facility to an adult prison in one week.
“Justice delayed is justice denied,” Vickery said. “One week from today, it becomes too late.”
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