Zoloft - Pittman sued Andy Vickery

[Guest guest]

Tuesday's ruling came after a three-day civil trial last summer. Pittman filed a

civil lawsuit claiming his lawyers mishandled the case. His appeals to the state

Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court had failed.

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Judge orders new trial for Chester Co. man convicted of killing grandparents

The Herald July 28, 2010

By Dys and Dick, The Herald, Rock Hill, S.C.

July 28-- Pittman -- convicted of killing his grandparents in 2001

when he was 12 -- should get a new trial because defense attorneys failed to

pursue a plea deal during his 2005 trial, a judge ruled Tuesday.

The trial, held in ton, drew nationwide attention because Pittman was

tried as an adult when he was 15, and because his lawyers claimed the

prescription antidepressant Zoloft altered his behavior.

Pittman burned down his grandparents' rural Chester County home in an attempt to

cover up the shotgun slayings, then fled in the family truck before he was found

by hunters in nearby Cherokee County.

Pittman, now 21, has been in prison since his arrest soon after the bodies of

Joe and Joy Pittman were discovered.

Prosecutors didn't buy what came to be known as the Zoloft defense, maintaining

that Pittman killed his grandparents after he was disciplined. A jury agreed,

and Pittman was sentenced to two concurrent 30-year prison terms -- the shortest

sentence for double murder allowed under the law.

" I am delighted that, for whatever reason, Pittman will have another

chance at justice, " Andy Vickery, Pittman's lead defense attorney in the 2005

trial, said in a statement. He had no further comment.

The state Attorney General's office plans to appeal the ruling of Circuit Court

Judge Young of ton.

" This office has 30 days to appeal the court's finding; we plan to do so, " said

Mark Plowden, a spokesman for the attorney general's office. " We are working on

the language of that appeal immediately. "

Tuesday's ruling came after a three-day civil trial last summer. Pittman filed a

civil lawsuit claiming his lawyers mishandled the case. His appeals to the state

Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court had failed.

Young wrote that Pittman's right to effective counsel was violated when the

defense team made several errors in the case, including not pursuing a potential

plea deal, not explaining to Pittman that a plea deal could have meant a shorter

sentence, and not telling Pittman's court-appointed guardian ad litem of a

potential plea deal.

The guardian, attorney Milton Hamilton of Chester, testified last summer that he

would have advised Pittman to take a plea deal of voluntary manslaughter if it

had been offered, according to Tuesday's court order.

Hamilton declined to comment on the order Tuesday but confirmed that was his

testimony last year.

" By failing to inform Hamilton of the potential plea, Vickery prevented him from

fulfilling a role as someone who had no other interest other than Pittman's at

heart, " Young wrote.

Seth Farber of New York, who represented Pittman in the civil case, said he will

continue to represent him.

" We are very pleased for , " he said.

Delnora Duprey, Pittman's maternal grandmother, who lives in Florida, said

Tuesday evening she has not had a chance to talk to Pittman about the ruling and

is not even certain that he knew yet of the order granting him a new trial.

Duprey and her husband, Wilfred, both said they had prayed for the outcome.

" We are very pleased and thankful for the decision, " she said.

The Rev. Snelgrove of Spartanburg, who was pastor at the Chester church

Pittman's family attended, called the ruling " fantastic. "

Snelgrove said he talks with Pittman's family periodically and plans to meet

with Pittman in prison to discuss the future. Although the antidepressant

defense did not work in court, Snelgrove said, he still believes the drugs

played a role in causing Pittman to kill his grandparents.

" This was a terrible event for the family and the community, and I understand

the community still deals with it and the need for justice, " Snelgrove said.

" But is a human being who can be redeemed. "

According to Young's ruling, the trial judge in 2005 brought up a potential plea

in a meeting with attorneys outside the courtroom, but prosecutors never

extended a formal offer.

Like the guardian, Snelgrove said, he was not aware of the potential for a plea

deal during the trial, but he would have been grateful if that offer had been

extended.

" After the trial, struggled to understand what it meant, " Snelgrove said

of Pittman's lawyers not pursuing the plea deal in 2005.

Once Pittman was found and police were called, he claimed a black man killed his

grandparents and set the fire. He then confessed to the crime after he was

disciplined following a fight on the school bus.

In last year's hearing, Pittman took the stand for the first time in years of

court proceedings, saying his chief attorneys -- lawyers who specialized in

suing pharmaceutical companies -- told him they were convinced the jury would

blame Zoloft for the killings.

He also said they never told him jurors in South Carolina could both blame the

drug and find him guilty of murder.

" I wasn't told even if Zoloft was a part in my crime, I still could be found

guilty and I was looking at 30 years to life, " he said. " With the plea bargain,

I could have gotten a lot less. "

Young agreed, pointing out in his ruling that Pittman could have been sentenced

to anywhere from two to 30 years for voluntary manslaughter.

Young used the term " recklessness " to describe Vickery's advice to Pittman that

" he could not imagine a jury convicting him. "

" It is clear that Vickery based his legal advice on what he wished the law was,

rather than what it was, " Young wrote, concerning a defense of involuntary

intoxication.

Failing to pursue negotiations for a plea deal as suggested by the trial judge

was " objectively unreasonable " and " deficient, " Young wrote.

A Family Court judge ruled in 2003 that Pittman should be tried as an adult

after prosecutors maintained that Pittman was a threat to the community.

In his civil claim, Pittman alleged that errors by his first lawyer -- a public

defender who handled the case before Vickery and others -- failed to keep the

case in Family Court. That claim was not upheld in Tuesday's ruling.

Pittman was eventually defended by Vickery and other lawyers, mainly from out of

state.

Young's ruling pointed out that Pittman's legal team had little experience in

South Carolina criminal law.

Vickery had argued before, during and after the trial that Pittman should not be

tried as an adult, and that Zoloft had caused the killings.

What happens next for Pittman -- and where it could happen -- remain unclear,

pending the outcome of the attorney general's appeal.

Although the crime happened in Chester, the 2005 trial was held in ton

because a judge from there was assigned to the case. The solicitor from Richland

County prosecuted the case because the prosecutor from Chester County at the

time was ill.

Doug Barfield, current prosecutor for Chester County, declined to comment

directly on the order.

" Clearly two people died a very violent death in Chester County, " he said, " and

a man was convicted of those crimes. "

The Associated Press contributed.