#98QBKiller Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 Disturbing to say the least. No excuse makes me feel sympathy for someone shooting their innocent grandparents with a shotgun. I only wish the death penalty could have been applied on his 18th birthday. Click link for full story: http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/04/08/zoloft.defense.ap/index.html <LI class=cnnStoryToolsLabel>Tools: Save | Print | E-mail | Most Popular 'Zoloft defense' killer has corps of supporters POSTED: 8:29 p.m. EDT, April 8, 2007 var clickExpire = "05/8/2007";Story Highlights • Supporters travel far to visit prisoner convicted of killing grandparents • Christopher Pittman, now 18, was 12 at the time of the killings • His defense claimed he was intoxicated by prescription antidepressant • Group seeks legal reforms, reversal of Pittman's conviction Adjust font size: COLUMBIA, South Carolina (AP) -- Every week, Janet Sisk rises as early as 5 a.m. and drives nearly 100 miles to spend her Sundays with a teenager who was just 12 when he murdered his grandparents in their sleep. She planned to spend part of Easter weekend sitting across a table from Christopher Pittman at his maximum-security prison in Columbia. She also made the trek from her home in Charlotte, North Carolina, to spend Christmas Eve with him. She's not alone -- a half-dozen people drawn to Pittman's case visit him weekly. Another woman has flown from Michigan to see him twice in the past year. Hundreds of others rally around him in other ways: promising to pay for college when he gets out of prison, and campaigning for extra safeguards for arrested juveniles in South Carolina. To Sisk, director of the Juvenile Justice Foundation, Pittman has become more than the youth who attracted worldwide attention when he blamed the 2001 slayings on Zoloft, the antidepressant he was taking. She now thinks of him as her third son. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamingwolf Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 we humans are a strange breed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterPinstripe Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 Good lord... Yes, lets feel sorry for someone that killed his grandparents in cold blood. There really is no excuse for that at all. He should be locked up for life though I would be for the death penalty. No, instead lets cuddle them and tell them it wasnt there fault. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Predicto Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 Good lord... Yes, lets feel sorry for someone that killed his grandparents in cold blood. There really is no excuse for that at all. He should be locked up for life though I would be for the death penalty. No, instead lets cuddle them and tell them it wasnt there fault. I think his Zoloft defense is crappy, but assuming that you believe it, you might act the way these people do. They think that it was the fault of a bad prescription drug, not the fault of a bad person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterPinstripe Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 I think his Zoloft defense is crappy, but assuming that you believe it, you might act the way these people do. They think that it was the fault of a bad prescription drug, not the fault of a bad person. Yeah, I dont buy it either. Even if you do believe that the prescription affected him, I am sure there are many other people that took that drug that didn't kill thier relatives. To me thats like saying someone got drunk and shot his wife. It wasnt his fault, the liquer made him do something he wouldnt have done. Either way, whether you believe it or not, he still did it. Just my :2cents:. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Predicto Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 Yeah, I dont buy it either. Even if you do believe that the prescription affected him, I am sure there are many other people that took that drug that didn't kill thier relatives. To me thats like saying someone got drunk and shot his wife. It wasnt his fault, the liquer made him do something he wouldnt have done. Either way, whether you believe it or not, he still did it. Just my :2cents:. Well, I think the defense is a bit better than that. We all understand pretty well how alcohol affects the brain, but antidepressants are different. The effects are not well understood, especially on the adolescent brain, and they affect everyone differently. There is a reason that there are now warnings on the use of antidepressants by minors. http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2004/10/15/antidepressant_warnings041015.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterPinstripe Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 Well, I think the defense is a bit better than that. We all understand pretty well how alcohol affects the brain, but antidepressants are different. The effects are not well understood, especially on the adolescent brain, and they affect everyone differently. There is a reason that there are now warnings on the use of antidepressants by minors.http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2004/10/15/antidepressant_warnings041015.html Admittedly a bit of an exageration on my part, but I still think the basic princeple applies. I do realize it has different affects. But then again, I also think people that plead insanity when they kill someone should face the same penalties as "normal" people. Whether they were "insane" or not they still did it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamingwolf Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 well if taking a prescription drug can free you to commit any crime, that drug must be outlawed. plain and simple. Perhaps that is what this movement is after, but if our legal system is gonna bend to it then we must outlaw that drug. You want to kill someone, just fool someone into prescribing that drug for you. Its a free ticket to commit murder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterPinstripe Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 well if taking a prescription drug can free you to commit any crime, that drug must be outlawed. plain and simple. Perhaps that is what this movement is after, but if our legal system is gonna bend to it then we must outlaw that drug. You want to kill someone, just fool someone into prescribing that drug for you. Its a free ticket to commit murder. Yep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bounce Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 Good lord... Yes, lets feel sorry for someone that killed his grandparents in cold blood. There really is no excuse for that at all. He should be locked up for life though I would be for the death penalty. No, instead lets cuddle them and tell them it wasnt there fault. Really? A 12-year-old? You really think this kid didn't have serious, serious issues to do something like that at that age? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#98QBKiller Posted April 10, 2007 Author Share Posted April 10, 2007 Really? A 12-year-old? You really think this kid didn't have serious, serious issues to do something like that at that age? Yes he had serious issues called "needing an ass whipping." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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