U.S. Supreme Court asked to hear Chris Pittman's case

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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5386825.html

Dec. 18, 2007, 8:43AM

AP NewsBreak: U.S. Supreme Court asked to hear SC teen's case

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press Writer

© 2007 The Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. - A group of Texas attorneys has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to

hear the case of a South Carolina teen sentenced to 30 years in prison for

killing his grandparents when he was 12 years old, arguing that the sentence is

cruel.

In the brief submitted to the court late Monday, attorneys from the University

of Texas School of Law asked the high court to hear Pittman's case

on the basis that his 30-year sentence violates his Eighth Amendment protection

from cruel and unusual punishment.

Such a lengthy sentence is " unconstitutionally disproportionate as applied to a

12-year-old child, " according a copy of the petition provided by Juvenile

Justice Foundation. " Although the statutory schemes in many states appear to

authorize the imposition of harsh sentences on such young children, and

12-year-olds commit many serious offenses, petitioner is the nation's only

inmate serving such a harsh sentence for an offense committed at such a young

age. "

Pittman was 12 when he used a pump-action shotgun to shoot his grandparents Joe

and Joy Pittman, and then set fire to their Chester County, S.C., home in 2001.

During his trial four years later, Pittman's attorneys unsuccessfully argued the

slayings were influenced by the antidepressant Zoloft - a charge the company

that makes the drug vigorously denied.

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.