Partial Transcript of CBS 48 Hours Program

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Sat, 16 Apr 2005 22:39:32 EDT

[drugawareness] Partial Transcript of CBS 48 Hours Program

 

 

 

For those of you in the western part of the US who have not yet seen

the show

which is currently airing on the East Coast now . . . please find below a

partial transcript and preview of the upcomg show this evening.

 

Go to the following site and you can watch video clips . . .

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/48hours/main3410.shtml

 

 

 

  DateandTime(); ET   The Early Show   CBS Evening News Â

 48 Hours   60

Minutes (SUN)Â Â Â 60 Minutes (WED) Â Â Â All Broadcasts

 

 

Prescription For Murder?

 

April 15, 2005

 

Erin Moriarty has an exclusive interview with Chris Pittman. Â (Photo:

CBS/48

Hours)

 

 

Is the anti-depressant, Zoloft, which Chris Pittman was prescribed shortly

before the murders, really to blame, as his lawyers claim?

 

 

Chris Pittman shot his grandparents, Joe and Joy Pittman, at close

range and

then set their house on fire. Â (Photo: CBS)

 

 

 

(CBS)Â Chris Pittman shot his grandparents, Joe and Joy Pittman, at close

range and then set their house on fire. According to family members,

Chris, a

well-mannered and shy 12-year-old who lived with his grandparents,

loved them more

than anything.

 

So, why would Chris kill them?

 

Is the anti-depressant, Zoloft, which he was prescribed shortly before the

murders, really to blame, as his lawyers claim? Correspondent Erin

Moriarty has

an exclusive interview with the now 16-year-old and reports for

" Prescription

for Murder? " , to be broadcast Saturday, April 16, at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

 

When Chester, S.C., sheriff's officers arrived at the Pittmans' destroyed

home that November 2001 night, they learned young Chris was missing

and so was

his grandfather's truck. As state investigators took over the scene,

Chris was

found 35 miles away, with the truck, and had told police a man broke

into the

house, killed Joe and Joy, and kidnapped him at gunpoint.

 

Chris' story didn't stand up and he soon confessed that he had killed his

grandparents because " they deserved it. " At the time, Chris showed no

remorse and

no emotion. Prosecutor Barney Giese says it was a lifetime of mistreatment

and neglect by other family members that caused Chris to kill after his

grandfather disciplined him.

 

What defense could Chris possibly have? After all, he gave a complete

confession to investigators who confronted him, providing step-by-step

details of how

he got a .410 shotgun, shot his grandparents as they slept, stole

money and

weapons and his grandfather's truck before setting the house on fire,

and then

fled into the night.

 

As Chris' family and lawyers searched for answers to solve what seemed

to be

a complete mystery, they came to an unexpected conclusion: that the sweet,

shy, gentle boy they knew had somehow been turned into a stone-cold,

calculating

killer by the most popularly prescribed anti-depressant in the country --

Zoloft.

 

The " Zoloft made him do it " defense might seem a long shot were it not for

information coming from a series of hearings conducted by the Food and

Drug

Administration in Washington. That testimony, along with a newly

released series

of scientific studies, strongly indicates that for some children and

adolescents, Zoloft can dramatically increase the risk of suicide.

 

But suicide is one thing and homicide another. Can Zoloft really be the

reason that young Chris turned violent and became a killer?

 

Moriarty obtained the only television interview with Chris. He claims he

killed only because of the medicine he was taking.

 

CHRIS PITTMAN: " You just can't control yourself. "

 

ERIN MORIARTY: " Were you aware you were actually going to get the

rifle and

loading it? "

 

PITTMAN: " Unh-uh. It was just like you sitting there watching TV. I mean,

everything that, you know, going on. It can't be stopped. "

 

MORIARTY: " Had you ever felt that kind of anger before? "

 

PITTMAN: " Unh-uh. "

 

MORIARTY: " What did it feel like? "

 

PITTMAN: " It's just like it all just exploded. I mean, just exploded. "

 

MORIARTY: " Why do you think you did do that that night? "

 

PITTMAN: " Medicine. That's the only...reason that I know. That's the only

reason -- logical reason -- that I could see why it happened. The

littlest thing

would set me off. I was like a bomb that was ready to blow up. "

 

Chris tells Moriarty his account of what it felt like right before he

killed

his grandparents.

 

PITTMAN: " I was just laying there trying to go to sleep and it was

just like

these voices in my head, just echoing in my head, getting louder and

louder

and faster. "

 

MORIARTY: " And what were these voices saying? "

 

PITTMAN: " Kill. "

 

MORIARTY: " Were you aware of what you had done? "

 

PITTMAN: " I thought it was all a dream. "

 

PITTMAN: " I finally got to the point after all this, got to the point

where---that...I haven't forgiven myself, but I kind of felt peace

with myself.

And...the trial comes and then it all comes back. "

 

Even though he was 12 years old at the time of the killings, Chris

would be

tried as an adult on two counts of murder, facing a possible life

sentence.

 

Is Chris legally responsible for the brutal deaths of his grandparents? Or

did Zoloft, designed to help Chris through a bout of depression, make him

unfeeling, unthinking and temporarily insane?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© MMV, CBS Worldwide Inc. .