"Someone who had no history of crime, rage or angry outbursts," Mr Schmidkunz noted, "a kind gentle young man who never so much had even a traffic ticket."
Pfizer also supplied materials to the government in this case. "The prosecution," Zach's father said, "followed the Zoloft prosecutors manual to a T by attacking Zach's makeup and personality arguing that Zach was a monster planning to murder someone."
"That tactic was effective, very effective," Mr Schmidkunz noted.
"So effective," he said, "that early that evening Zach's Grandmother, who had been at the trial that day, had an heart episode that sent her to the hospital from church via the ambulance."
From then on, against her wishes because she wanted to support her grandson, Zach's family decided that his Grandma should not attend any more of the trial.
Zachary testified in his own defense and spent more than 6 hours on the witness stand. He told the jury how he shot Alexis and said he acted out of complete rage, not at Alexis or anything in particular, just uncontrollable anger.
Zach told the jury that Alexis told him that "people who are depressed always end up committing suicide. Medicine can't help," and this remark apparently set him off.
He told the jury how he went into his room, turned on some music and went into a rage. He then went and unlocked the gun cabinet and Alexis asked him what he was doing.
He went back into his room, Zach recalled, laid the gun on his bed, went and grabbed a box of shells, turned the music up louder, loaded a shell into the chamber, and came back out of his room and Alexis again asked him what he was doing.
By this time he was pointing the gun down at Alexis and he says, she again asked, "what are you doing?" She crouched down on her knees and started crying, and it was then that Zach shot her.
He then went back in his room and put three more shells into the gun, grabbed a bag and started throwing stuff like socks and underwear in it. He says he didn't think about Alexis when he left the house. He went and got some money out of an ATM machine, drove to a gas station and filled up his car with gas, and drove off with no destination in mind.
He drove on the interstate to Jamestown and there, in a gas station parking lot, Zach says, things started coming back to him and he thought he remembered shooting someone so he went and turned himself into police.
During the trial, 4 expert witness testified that Zach was clinically depressed. Dr Maureen Hackett, MD, testified for the defense, and said that it was her opinion that Zach was in a state of mind of an automaton that was induced by extreme physiologic excitement fueled by a reaction to Zoloft withdrawal that created a worsening of his symptoms and a sudden onset of novel rage resulting in a prolonged episode of extreme emotional disturbance.
"None of this made any difference to the jury or the prosecutor," Mr Schmidkunz says.
With the help of the Pfizer manual, Zach's father says, the "prosecutor convinced the jury my son was a monster and that Dr Hackett was a hired gun bought for a price and would tell the court whatever we wanted her to say."
"The State's Attorney and law enforcement," he said, "don't understand or just don't care what an SSRI does to a person's brain when you have an adverse event."
Pfizer also supplied materials to the government in this case. "The prosecution," Zach's father said, "followed the Zoloft prosecutors manual to a T by attacking Zach's makeup and personality arguing that Zach was a monster planning to murder someone."
"That tactic was effective, very effective," Mr Schmidkunz noted.
"So effective," he said, "that early that evening Zach's Grandmother, who had been at the trial that day, had an heart episode that sent her to the hospital from church via the ambulance."
Zachary testified in his own defense and spent more than 6 hours on the witness stand. He told the jury how he shot Alexis and said he acted out of complete rage, not at Alexis or anything in particular, just uncontrollable anger.
Zach told the jury that Alexis told him that "people who are depressed always end up committing suicide. Medicine can't help," and this remark apparently set him off.
He told the jury how he went into his room, turned on some music and went into a rage. He then went and unlocked the gun cabinet and Alexis asked him what he was doing.
He went back into his room, Zach recalled, laid the gun on his bed, went and grabbed a box of shells, turned the music up louder, loaded a shell into the chamber, and came back out of his room and Alexis again asked him what he was doing.
By this time he was pointing the gun down at Alexis and he says, she again asked, "what are you doing?" She crouched down on her knees and started crying, and it was then that Zach shot her.
He then went back in his room and put three more shells into the gun, grabbed a bag and started throwing stuff like socks and underwear in it. He says he didn't think about Alexis when he left the house. He went and got some money out of an ATM machine, drove to a gas station and filled up his car with gas, and drove off with no destination in mind.
He drove on the interstate to Jamestown and there, in a gas station parking lot, Zach says, things started coming back to him and he thought he remembered shooting someone so he went and turned himself into police.
During the trial, 4 expert witness testified that Zach was clinically depressed. Dr Maureen Hackett, MD, testified for the defense, and said that it was her opinion that Zach was in a state of mind of an automaton that was induced by extreme physiologic excitement fueled by a reaction to Zoloft withdrawal that created a worsening of his symptoms and a sudden onset of novel rage resulting in a prolonged episode of extreme emotional disturbance.
"None of this made any difference to the jury or the prosecutor," Mr Schmidkunz says.
With the help of the Pfizer manual, Zach's father says, the "prosecutor convinced the jury my son was a monster and that Dr Hackett was a hired gun bought for a price and would tell the court whatever we wanted her to say."
"The State's Attorney and law enforcement," he said, "don't understand or just don't care what an SSRI does to a person's brain when you have an adverse event."
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