February 16th, 2005

"Fifteen-year-old boy sentenced to 30 years in Zoloft case"

A 15-year old boy, Chris Pittman, was convicted by a jury on two counts of murder in the 2001 killings of his paternal grandparents.

The defense attorney for Pittman argued popular antidepressant Zoloft drove the boy to kill. Zoloft is one of the most popular antidepressants by Pfizer Inc. but is not approved for treating children with depression, though doctors widely prescribe the drug for younger patients.

The use of newer generation antidepressant drugs among children has been controversial in recent years. The Food and Drug Administration recently withdrew its earlier warning that antidepressants like Zoloft can cause suicidal actions among children and teenagers, instead saying the drugs “increased the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior in short-term studies of adolescents and children” with depression and other psychiatric disorders.

Defense psychiatrist in the Zoloft case testified that Pittman “did not have the ability to form criminal intent on that date due to intoxication with Zoloft,” but the prosecutors called the Zoloft contention a “smoke screen.” After six hours of deliberations, the jury convicted Pittman.

According to Pittman’s attorney Andy Vickery, “"It''s astonishing to me. The prosecution''s own expert, who is a consultant for Pfizer, who formally did clinical trials for Pfizer, testified that ''SSRI-induced mania'' is a ''well-known clinical syndrome'' and that somebody else, a 38-year-old police sergeant, should be excused of criminal culpability because of something that happened to him when he had the same reaction to a drug in the same class. So I was astonished that the jury felt that."

Pittman was prescribed a starter dose of Zoloft as a substitute for another antidepressant he had taken in the psychiatric center he was sent to for six days before his grandparents brought him to their home. Family members describe him as becoming fidgety, unable to sit still and talked about his skin being on fire, which are signs of compulsive restlessness some doctors have warned are possible Zoloft side effects.

Members of Pittman’s family insist he should have been acquitted and have vowed to continuing fighting for his freedom.