September 17, 2004

...at least if you're planning to use a "Prozac defense" or "Zoloft defense" and argue that the pills you were taking ineluctably drove you to commit your crime. In the South Carolina case of Christopher Pittman, charged with first-degree murder after shooting his grandparents, plaintiff's lawyers Arnold ("Andy") Vickery of Houston and Karen Barth Menzies of Los Angeles, who've been suing antidepressant makers for years, stepped forward to provide Pittman with criminal representation on his Zoloft defense. They're asking the court to order Pfizer, the drug's maker, to release reams of documents which they say would be helpful to client Pittman's case. And not just helpful to him alone, either, it might occur to a cynic. The New York Times's Barry Meier covered the case last month. Update Mar. 11, 2005: jury convicts Pittman.