Christopher's Bill, Press Release Christopher Pittman

[Anonymous]

Please post this petition on your site.
 
Please go to http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/429258617 and sign the petition, send to friends, business, associates anyone you believe will sign this petition in support of reforming the mandatory sentencing laws for children 14 and under.  This Bill is named for Christopher Pittman, a true travesty of justice.
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

South Carolina Judge rules "coercion" and/or a "misunderstanding of the law" by Christopher Pittman jurors, does not implicate the "fundamental fairness" that is the touchstone of due process. "


Chester County, S.C.- May 13, 2005? Christopher Pittman, age 12 when charged and convicted of killing his grandparents after he was prescribed powerful psychotropic drugs not approved for children is denied new trial.

The 13-page ruling handed down by Judge Daniel Pieper, denied the defense motion that Christopher Pittman receive a New and Fair Trial. The jurors themselves swore under oath, that there was intimidation during deliberation in the Pittman case. To disregard the facts, is a travesty of Justice not just for Christopher, but for all children.

Judge Pieper stated that he was "troubled" by the sworn testimony of two jurors who did not believe that Chris was guilty, but who voted with the majority because of "coercion" and/or a "misunderstanding of the law", the Judge ruled that, in his opinion, ?these troublesome facts do not implicate the "fundamental fairness" that is the touchstone of due process. "

Child advocacy group, http://www.JusticeforJuveniles.org strongly disagree with South Carolina Judge Daniel Pieper. Advocates Nationwide contend that Chris Pittman has been victimized by the Medical and Pharmaceutical industry, the State of South Carolina and also the American Justice System originally designed to protect children.

JFJ Advocates will be presenting CHRISTOPHERS BILL ? The juvenile justice reform act - at South Carolina?s next Legislative session. The Bill is quickly gaining support from Advocate groups nationwide.

Wrongly tried as an adult, wrongly convicted for a crime committed while involuntarily intoxicated. Christopher remains in isolation 20 hours a day while defense attorneys Andy Vickery and Paul Waldner, http://www.justiceseekers.com prepare Christopher?s appeal.


Media Contact: Janet Sisk

Email: Justiceforjuveniles@yahoo.com

[Nihilanthic]

South Carolina is very, very sad.

An Animated Cartoon Theology:
1. People are animals.
2. The body is mortal and subject to incredible pain.
3. Life is antagonistic to the living.
4. The flesh can be sawed, crushed, frozen, stretched, burned, bombed, and plucked for music.
5. The dumb are abused by the smart and the smart destroyed by their own cunning.
6. The small are tortured by the large and the large destroyed by their own momentum.
7. We are able to walk on air, but only as long as our illusion supports us.
-- E. L. Doctorow "The Book of Daniel"

[Deborah]

S.C. Supreme Court to hear teen's appeal
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/ne ... 29968.htm'

Youth was convicted of killing his grandparents when he was 12
By NICHOLE MONROE BELL AND HENRY EICHEL
The Charlotte Observer

The S.C. Supreme Court has decided to hear the appeal of a Chester County teen who was convicted in the 2001 shooting deaths of his grandparents.

The ruling means the youth, 16-year-old Christopher Pittman, will bypass the S.C. Court of Appeals because his case "involves an issue
of significant public interest or a legal principle of major importance," according to the Supreme Court.

In its order, the court did not specify what issue or legal principle merited its review.

Pittman was 12 when he shot to death Joe and Joy Pittman of Chester. During his trial in February 2005, Pittman's lawyers argued the antidepressant drug Zoloft made the boy unable to know right from wrong and led him to kill. Prosecutors said the boy knew right from wrong because he fled the scene and lied to police when they found him.

Pittman's lawyers have argued that the teen shouldn't have been tried as an adult, and that his resulting 30-year sentence was too harsh. Thirty years is the minimum sentence allowed under S.C. law for murder by someone convicted as an adult.

Professor James Flanagan of the University of South Carolina Law School said that while the Supreme Court doesn't often bypass the Court of Appeals, it's not unusual when an unsettled issue of law is at stake. Flanagan said the rule is one that the Supreme Court uses "to bring before itself those cases that it is ultimately going
to end up hearing anyway."