Court refuses review of S.C. teen’s conviction

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to review a 30-year prison sentence for a teen who was 12 when he killed his grandparents in their South Carolina home.

A juvenile justice advocate said Christopher Pittman, who turned 19 last week, was disappointed but stoic when she broke the news to him by telephone.

Pittman shot his grandparents Joe and Joy Pittman with a shotgun in 2001, then set fire to their home and drove off in their car. During his trial four years later, Pittman’s attorneys unsuccessfully argued the slayings were influenced by the antidepressant Zoloft, a charge the maker of the drug vigorously denied.

The Supreme Court appeal dealt only with the length of Pitt­man’s sentence. Attorneys with the University of Texas School of Law argued that his 30-year-sentence was too severe and wanted the justices to examine whether a long prison term for a child violates the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

With no possibility of parole, Pittman will be 42 before he is released, his attorneys said.

The state Supreme Court turned down the appeal in June, saying Pittman’s age belied the complexity of his crime. He planned a double murder, executed an escape plan and concocted a false story of what happened, the state high court said in upholding the punishment.