[drugawareness] Pittman Update - U.S. Supreme Court Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2008 23:28:24 -0500 (CDT) What affects Chris' case will affect the cases for all of the other children behind bars due to the use of these drugs off label for them as children. Dr. Ann Blake Tracy, Executive Director, International Coalition for Drug Awareness _www.drugawareness.org_ (http://www.drugawareness.org/) Author of Prozac: Panacea or Pandora? - Our Serotonin Nightmare & Help! I Can't Get Off My Antidepressant! (Order Line: 800-280-0730) Forwarded Message: Subj: Pittman Update - U.S. Supreme Court - Decision to hear Pittman case expected Monday Date: 3/30/2008 10:11:12 A.M. Central America Standard From: _vince_19805@yahoo.com_ (mailto:vince_19805@yahoo.com) Sent from the Internet _(Details)_ (aolmsg://038a74c8/inethdr/2) **** note: This is a private list. I send out alerts, useful news items, and comment to a group of mental health professionals, decision makers and activists. (OK to repost and to include this header and comments). If you do not want to receive any of these emails, please let me know. To preserve privacy, I blind copy the entire list. Vince Boehm **** The U. S. Supreme Courts decision to accept or reject the Christopher Pittman case is expected tomorrow. Please say a little prayer about this because The Court receives thousands of petitions each year, and chooses only to hear a small fraction of these cases. The University of Texas School of Law filed this certiorari petition asking it to review the sentence of a South Carolina prisoner, Chris Pittman, who is serving a 30-year term without parole for an offense he committed when he was 12 years old. Lanny Vickery, an Austin-based attorney and 1984 Law School graduate who helped handle Pittman's case in the South Carolina courts, brought the case to the Clinic and requested assistance in petitioning the High Court. Vickery worked closely with the professors and students as they prepared their arguments. The trial court case before the South Carolina court hinged in part on the defense that putting a massive (more than four times the adult therapeutic dose ) dose of an antidepressant into a 90 pound twelve year old body was the proximate cause of this tragedy. This petition asks the Supreme Court to address for the first time whether its reasoning in the 2005 Roper v. Simmons decision, which prohibited the death penalty for minors, also protects 12-year-old children who receive lengthy mandatory sentences without possibility of parole. Penal Reform International was the lead party on a brief submitted to the Court on Chris' behalf, emphasizing that what was done to Chris violated international law and international standards of decency. That brief gave the Court extremely valuable materials from an international perspective, which we hope will help persuade the Court to review Chris' case. Vickery says, "The [PRI] brief setting forth the international materials was very helpful (and went far beyond what even we had in terms of international stuff)". Penal Reform International is a small organization, but has nonetheless stepped up to help Chris in a big way, incurring costs that are significant relative to its size. We would like to show our appreciation for its efforts by asking those who support Chris and the issues his case raises to make a donation to PRI. It does not have to be a large donation. Every little bit helps. If you could send whatever donation you can spare to: Jenni Gainsborough Director, Washington Office Penal Reform International 1025 Vermont Avenue, NW , 3rd Floor Washington , DC 20005 FAIR USE NOTICE: This may contain copyrighted () ) material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. This material is distributed without profit. ------------------------------------