New trial set for man in 2 killings

A man convicted of killing his grandparents when he was 12 was granted a new trial Tuesday after his case was thrown out by a state judge.

In a 41-page order, Circuit Judge Roger Young of Charleston granted Christopher Pittman's post-conviction relief request, calling for a new trial and opening the door for a plea bargain to a lesser crime.

The decision is a dramatic turn of events for Pittman, who killed his grandparents in 2001 at age 12, was tried as an adult at age 15, and received a 30-year sentence in the S.C. Department of Corrections.

He blamed the murders on the prescribed anti-depressant Zoloft, saying it clouded his sense of right and wrong, a defense that prosecutors discounted by focusing on the premeditated nature of the crimes.

In his order Tuesday, Young said Pittman's trial counsel was ineffective for not advising the boy of the differences between the effects of a 30-year sentence for murder versus a maximum 30-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter.

As a result, his legal team also did not pursue a plea bargain to voluntary manslaughter, a lesser crime that could have meant less actual prison time.

The murder conviction meant Pittman could not be paroled for his 30-year sentence, so the earliest he could get out of prison would be at age 42.

A voluntary manslaughter conviction, even if given the full term, would have opened the door to early release based on credits for good behavior, possibly knocking more than four years off his sentence.

Pittman, now 21, was found guilty in 2005 of shooting Joe and Joy Pittman as they slept in the beds of their Chester County home. He set the house on fire before fleeing with his dog in their sport utility vehicle before getting the vehicle stuck in the mud in a neighboring county.

The nearly three-week trial was moved to Charleston County because of pre-trial publicity in the Upstate.

A spokesman for Attorney General Henry McMaster said Tuesday that the office already has started on an appeal of Young's order, and that it has 30 days in which to file.

In a hearing last August, Pittman's appeal attorneys argued that he deserved a new trial because his former lawyers didn't do their jobs properly at trial and didn't fight hard enough to have him tried as a juvenile, where he could have been behind bars only until he turned 21.

In the order, Young noted that the trend showed his defense team, led by civil attorney Andy Vickery, seemed more interested in putting Zoloft on trial than in what was best for the defendant.

"After Vickery's team took over the media attention grew exponentially greater," Young wrote, "in large part because the defense team cultivated it on order to draw attention to the side effects of SSRI (antidepressant) drugs such as Zoloft."

Young also said the defense erred by not pursuing a plea bargain when the topic was broached by presiding trial Judge Danny Pieper.

"Viewing the circumstances surrounding the aborted plea negotiations in totality, it is clear Pittman's defense team did not appreciate how unlikely the 'Zoloft defense' would result in an acquittal of Pittman for the murders," Young wrote.

"As a result, it is clear the defense team did not seriously pursue negotiations for a plea to voluntary manslaughter, which had been suggested by the trial judge, a suggestion that was not unfavorably received by the prosecution."

Fifth Circuit Solicitor Barney Giese, who led the initial trial prosecution, did not return a phone message seeking comment Tuesday. His secretary said there likely would be no immediate statements.

Former defense team attorney Henry Mims of Greer, meanwhile, said he was elated at the order. "I don't believe this kid belongs in prison," he said.

Mims said he thought it unlikely that Pittman immediately would be released from the maximum security Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia, but suggested that a release procedure could be pursued with favorable support coming from the solicitor's office.

Vickery said only: "I'm glad that Christopher Pittman gets another shot." One possible avenue is for Pittman to be returned to Chester County, where the crime occurred, and a bail set there in advance of heading back into a courtroom for trial or plea.

Pittman's case drew national publicity. After the killings, he drove for about 20 miles until the vehicle got bogged down in a hunting area. When he was found, he blamed the murders on an intruder, saying he was kidnapped afterward.

Authorities contended that the killings were retaliation to his grandparents' strict discipline that included using a paddle.