Web TodaysSeniorsNetwork.com

Lawyers say anti-depressant drove boy to kill grandparents  

CHESTER , S.C. - Lawyers for a boy charged with killing his grandparents say confidential documents from Pfizer show an anti-depressant drug the pharmaceutical company makes drove their client to commit the crime.

Attorneys for 15-year-old Christopher Pittman want copies of documents they say show the drug company has been aware of potential problems with Zoloft for years.

Pittman had been taking Zoloft before shooting Joe Frank Pittman and Joy Roberts Pittman as they slept in their Chester County home on Nov. 28, 2001 , defense attorneys said. Pittman is charged as an adult with murder and arson.

Defense attorney Andy Vickery said Tuesday he wants copies of documents Pfizer provided prosecutor John Justice. Vickery said Pfizer "injected" itself into the Pittman case in January 2002 when one of its lawyers provided information to the prosecution.

But Justice said he has no confidential documents from Pfizer. Justice said Pfizer representatives have given him copies of public documents from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a tape of an FDA hearing on antidepressants and children and testimony transcripts of one of the defense's key medical experts, Dr. Peter Breggin.

"I've been given advice on how to cross Breggin ... and have been schooled on how these drugs are supposed to work," Justice said.

Vickery said the prosecutor is required under court rules to request the secret documents, even if Justice does not have copies of them. "If he was only told half the story by Pfizer, why wouldn't he want to know the other half?" said Vickery, one of two expert attorneys approved Tuesday by Circuit Court Judge Paul Short.

Short said he would rule within the next few days on whether the court would require Justice to request the documents sought by the defense. The trial is scheduled to begin later this month.