Posted on 02/15/2005 9:22:35 AM PST by kcvl
GUILTY!
There are some states where he could probably get away with that defense...but South Carolina, thank God, is not one of 'em.
}:-)4
I was on Zoloft for awhile. It gave me the most awesome case of intestinal gas I've ever experienced. I still contend it was invented by someone who thought that thunderous farts were the height of humor with the assumption that "laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone." (Sometimes I miss being able to levitate though.)
I happened to catch just a snippet of his defense attorney's closing argument when he made the point to the jury that, "It can only be one of two things, folks. Either he's an evil young man or it was the Zoloft."
Apparently the jury chose option "A"
Hey, Howlin, did you misread my post? Maybe I didn't state it clearly enough.
We are in agreement here on this kid, and in thinking Zoloft had nothing to do with his murdering his grandparents.
Oh, no, I didn't. I wasn't clear that I was agreeing with you.
"I was on Zoloft for awhile, some years ago. It was like being on a happy pill."
I believe Zoloft is a SSRI. I don't believe "euphoria" is a side effect. Typically, the action of the drug is to stop clinical depression(unrational depression with no apparent cause). The patient just feels normal, no longer depressed, but not "happy" or "drugged."
BTW - I don't buy the defense arguement that this drug made him homocidal. Aggressive behavior maybe....
When will the excuses end?? And evil be called by its real name. Maybe with this verdict.
I was wrong about Zoloft and euphoria. It appears that 0.4% of patients can develope "mania" which is defined as:
1. Mental disorder characterized by excessive excitement. 2. A form of psychosis characterized by exalted feelings, delusions of grandeur, elevation of mood, psychomotor overactivity, and overproduction of ideas.
Tony Zoloft - ran a deli. Tried serving kosher ham biscuits. Didn't go over well.
This trial was so disturbing to me. I have been looking at my grandsons, trying to think if they will kill me!
You know that is the shocker. Did the grandparents know this kid was this bad? Did they have a clue. Could any of us be so blind that our very own grandson would blow us away. It just makes me feel awful.
meanwhile I am watching the boys carefully,,they won't get past me!
PITTMAN TRIAL, DAY 9: Psychiatrist says Pittman knew right from wrong
By Stephen Guilfoyle / News Editor
CHARLESTON -- Christopher Pittman knew it was wrong to shoot and kill his grandparents, a forensic psychiatrist said Thursday as Pittman's trial inches closer to a conclusion.
Three years ago, Dr. Pamela Crawford was ordered by a Family Court Judge to evaluate a 12-year-old boy who took a shotgun and killed his grandparents, took money, burned their house down and drove away Nov. 28, 2001.
She saw him for several weeks, interviewed him five times with a team that included two or three other child psychiatrists, a child psychologist and a specialist in psychiatric drugs. She concluded the boy was a child who had trouble with authority figures throughout his young life, but he knew right from wrong the night he killed his grandparents, and had no mental defect that would prevent him from accepting legal responsibility for the killings.
Crawford is testifying for the prosecution, which is allowed to offer rebuttal testimony of things brought up by the defense during the presentation of its case.
She first saw Pittman in December of 2001, listing a number of people she interviewed to prepare her report.
Some of the same people had been interviewed by a specialist who testified for the defense, Dr. Lanette Atkins. Crawford saw Pittman within a month of the crimes, while Atkins did not see him until almost a year later. And Crawford interviewed several of the law enforcement officers who had seen Pittman right after the crime.
Atkins said she determined from the records that Pittman was suffering from a manic episode with psychotic features brought on by a prescription to Zoloft.
Crawford said she was told early on by Yale Zamore, Chester County public defender who was representing Pittman, that Zoloft may be an issue. She said she tried to learn all she could about the drug from other doctors, from the internet and by contacting Pfizer, the company that makes the drug.
When she interviewed the police and SLED agents who interviewed Pittman, she asked them tailored questions to see if Pittman was suffering any signs of mania or a restlessness known as akithisia. She said that the officers didn't detect any signs right after the case, and none of the members of the team evaluating Pittman detected it while they did their evaluation.
She said Pittman admitted doing the crimes in interviews for the evaluation, and at one point told her that he planned what he did, and his grandparents deserved it.
Crawford said she asked him why his grandmother deserved to be shot. Pittman had said he shot them primarily because he was paddled by his grandfather. Pittman told her his grandmother deserved it because she didn't stop his grandfather.
The team diagnosed Pittman with conduct disorder, and she signed the report to the judge.
She said Pittman told her he heard a voice in his head after his grandfather hit him with a paddle, but in his next sentence, Pittman told her it was his own thoughts, just loud.
She said he waited to kill his grandparents, which was evidence he was not suffering from mania. She said he had a plan of what to do, and she said most of the major details of what happened conform to his plan.
Defense experts say everything that happened that night weren't planned but the result of manic induced impulses.
In one interview, he said he regretted killing his grandparents some of the time, but also said they deserved it at another time.
An earlier defense witness, Dr. Richard Kapit, said that Pittman was running all over his grandparents house, setting fires and grabbing guns and money and his dog, evidence of impulsive behavior.
Crawford said he set the fires deliberately to get some lead time. He told her that perhaps people would assume he was killed in the fire and not come looking for him. He also had a story ready, that he was kidnapped by a man who shot and killed his grandparents to steal his grandfather's guns. He drove off to get away from the consequences of what he had done, but also with an alibi in the making.
One of the defense's main implications throughout the trial has been that Pittman's dosage of the anti-depressant Zoloft was quadrupled two days before the shootings, triggering the mania and psychosis that led to the shootings.
The medical records entered by the prosecution say the dosage was never changed, and Crawford said Pittman told three different sets of evaluators at different agencies that his dosage was consistent with what is in the medical records -- 50 milligrams.
He was asked about his dosage when he came to the Department of Juvenile Justice, then when he was transferred to William S. Hall for the evaluation. She also asked about the dosage. Each time he said it was 50 milligrams. She said he even described the colors of the pill, because the different dosage sizes are different colors.
"His story has changed over time," Crawford said.
Pittman's father wrote a letter to the Federal Drug Administration contending that the dosage was upped to 200 milligrams a day before the killings.
Crawford did note Pittman was originally taking the pills in the morning, but was switched to taking it with an evening meal.
Pittman's sister Danielle testified that her grandmother Joy Pittman said she had to give Christopher his pill with dinner on Thanksgiving, 2001, six days before the killings. Danielle Pittman said her grandmother also said that she had to give Pittman a pill in the morning.
She also said that while Christopher Pittman was a pretty good student in Florida, in the area of his conduct, he had a troubled life, coming from a dysfunctional family in which his mother abandoned him early on and his father disciplined him regularly.
Pittman's father may also have abused Pittman's mother Hazel, according to Hazel's mother Delnora Duprey. Crawford interviewed her in January of 2002.
There is a question about Crawford's notes from her conversation with Duprey. The notes say "extraordinary liar" in between a section that talks about Chris and his mother. She said at least two times that Duprey was talking about Christopher. But then she admitted it could actually refer to Duprey talking about her daughter. A mention of Joe Pittman abusing Hazel comes after the extraordinary liar area.
The jury was apparently smiling when they heard Pittman's sister talk about their relationship, but Danielle told Crawford her brother chased her around the house five or six times with a bat or golf club, and she always locked her self in her room to get away from him. Danielle told Crawford she was afraid of Christopher when he was like that.
On cross examination, she was asked, if she was an impartial court ordered evaluator, why she didn't have anything good to say about PIttman. She said she was ordered to evaluate him and wrote a report that reflected the conclusion the team made.
"There was clear indications of an emerging conduct disorder," she said.
She also related that he admitted to making bombs from gasoline and styrofoam cups, setting them off and setting fires when he was angry. He sketched out a plan to build and set a bomb while he was at William S. Hall, and attacked a worker at the institute while there. He was aggressive with other children at the ward.
There are far too many Christopher Pittmans in this world, and Zoloft is not to blame!
You don't know what he felt or what happened. I rejoice that you and you siblings didn't suffer from your experience but alot of people aren't so strong. You don't know how many times Chris was jerked around by his mother. This is a child and he is a child, that has not felt a mother's love. You are measuring your strength to his weakness.
There was one person in his life that knew his pain and need and it was a sister who was not able to 'save' him.
I do sincerely appreciate the info but I still stand by my post that Chris was an unmothered child. You have a mother and you don't know what I am talking about. I am talking about something you don't understand. Check out what Laura Bush is trying to do and it is a hint into the issue.
Obviously, the major freepers have been parented.
I am not dismissimg Chris Pittman's actions. Not at all.
This was a troubled youth handed over to elderly people who were clueless to his needs which were huge. You are probably a very well defined human. Praise God!!
Anymore, if you have two parents and you're raised in church and your parents see to your schooling then you are an enigma.
I think we should be holding Hazel accountable. She set him up.
Did your daughter or daughter in law abandon her child?
Because Chris Pittman's mother, on several occasions, mislead Chris into thinking she would be his mother again although she had not done so in his lifetime.
Chris Pittman's mother did not find him worthwhile, not enough to keep him and hang aroung to raise him.I don't know about you but I found this sort of thing hurtful in my life. Maybe you were blessed and had a mother that wanted you.
Yoy have a cold heart. Good for you that you are without problems!!
Brilliant logic. </sarcasm>
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