According to Christopher's maternal grandmother, Delnora Duprey, the family's nightmare started when Christopher was diagnosed with depression and "placed on medication that was never tested on children and never meant for their use."
"He had no say in this," she points out. "We, as adults," she continued, "trust our doctors and the FDA to know what they are doing."
"Even when we get complaints," Ms Duprey notes, "we say the doctor said it will help you."
In their appellate brief, Christopher's attorneys Andy Vickery, Paul Waldner, and Fred Shepherd, make the same point in this case, "that prescription drugs are a unique consideration in the context of criminal culpability."
Christopher had no other option, they said, but to rely upon his father and the health care professionals for his mental health well-being. "He was completely helpless in his ability to determine whether these drugs were beneficial or harmful to him," they wrote in the brief.
"In fact," the attorneys note, "unlike an adult, he could not even refuse their use."
In 20/20 hindsight, very early on there were signs that Christopher was experiencing adverse reactions to Zoloft, but no one knew there were any side effects to watch for.
When Christopher complained about how the drug made him feel, the doctor increased the dose and the tragic event that followed, experts say, never would have happened had he not been placed on SSRIs.
Ms Menzies explains that SSRIs are "extremely powerful drugs, designed to alter a person's brain chemistry."
They can cause a person to completely change behavior and their way of thinking, she says, leading some people to become psychotic. The SSRIs can cause "severe agitation and suicide to some," she says, "and cause others to commit acts of violence against others."
Christopher's aunt, Melinda Pittman Rector, told the jury that 5 days before he killed his grandparents, Christopher talked to her on the phone and said he did not like the medication he was taking because it gave him nightmares, and described feeling like "his skin was crawling," "burning underneath," and he couldn't "put it out," she said.
During the trial, this syndrome was described as a classic lay description of drug-induced "akathisia," in testimony by two well-know experts in the SSRI field, Dr David Healy and Dr Richard Kapit.
During the trial, Police Officer Lucinda McKellar testified that she Mirandized Christopher, who was not even old enough to drive, marry, or sign a binding legal contract in South Carolina, and asked him if he wanted to waive his rights and sign a confession, supposedly dictated by him, but written entirely by Ms McKellar, using an adult vocabulary.
This is a major issue raised in Christopher's appeal. In their appellate brief, his attorneys summed it up like this: "In this case, the agents extracted two signed statements from a 12-year old boy of below-average intelligence, with no prior experience with law enforcement, who was under the influence of a psychoactive drug that was prescribed "off label" to him by a general practitioner."
Apparently, in the US, whether a child will be tried as a juvenile or an adult depends on where the child lives. According to Christopher's attorneys, only a handful of states permit children to be tried as adults, but South Carolina is one of them.
In South Carolina, a presumption of incapacity to form criminal intent to commit a crime is given to a child between the ages of seven and fourteen. However, it is a rebuttable presumption, if it can be shown that the child was mentally capable of committing a crime, even though he was between the age of seven and fourteen.
"He had no say in this," she points out. "We, as adults," she continued, "trust our doctors and the FDA to know what they are doing."
"Even when we get complaints," Ms Duprey notes, "we say the doctor said it will help you."
In their appellate brief, Christopher's attorneys Andy Vickery, Paul Waldner, and Fred Shepherd, make the same point in this case, "that prescription drugs are a unique consideration in the context of criminal culpability."
"In fact," the attorneys note, "unlike an adult, he could not even refuse their use."
In 20/20 hindsight, very early on there were signs that Christopher was experiencing adverse reactions to Zoloft, but no one knew there were any side effects to watch for.
When Christopher complained about how the drug made him feel, the doctor increased the dose and the tragic event that followed, experts say, never would have happened had he not been placed on SSRIs.
Ms Menzies explains that SSRIs are "extremely powerful drugs, designed to alter a person's brain chemistry."
They can cause a person to completely change behavior and their way of thinking, she says, leading some people to become psychotic. The SSRIs can cause "severe agitation and suicide to some," she says, "and cause others to commit acts of violence against others."
Christopher's aunt, Melinda Pittman Rector, told the jury that 5 days before he killed his grandparents, Christopher talked to her on the phone and said he did not like the medication he was taking because it gave him nightmares, and described feeling like "his skin was crawling," "burning underneath," and he couldn't "put it out," she said.
During the trial, this syndrome was described as a classic lay description of drug-induced "akathisia," in testimony by two well-know experts in the SSRI field, Dr David Healy and Dr Richard Kapit.
During the trial, Police Officer Lucinda McKellar testified that she Mirandized Christopher, who was not even old enough to drive, marry, or sign a binding legal contract in South Carolina, and asked him if he wanted to waive his rights and sign a confession, supposedly dictated by him, but written entirely by Ms McKellar, using an adult vocabulary.
This is a major issue raised in Christopher's appeal. In their appellate brief, his attorneys summed it up like this: "In this case, the agents extracted two signed statements from a 12-year old boy of below-average intelligence, with no prior experience with law enforcement, who was under the influence of a psychoactive drug that was prescribed "off label" to him by a general practitioner."
Apparently, in the US, whether a child will be tried as a juvenile or an adult depends on where the child lives. According to Christopher's attorneys, only a handful of states permit children to be tried as adults, but South Carolina is one of them.
In South Carolina, a presumption of incapacity to form criminal intent to commit a crime is given to a child between the ages of seven and fourteen. However, it is a rebuttable presumption, if it can be shown that the child was mentally capable of committing a crime, even though he was between the age of seven and fourteen.
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