Court TV Host: Chat with Courttv.com's John Springer about the trial of Christopher Pittman, who claims Zoloft prevented him from knowing right from wrong when he shot his grandparents dead and set their house on fire. Discuss the trial with John Springer, reporting live from the courthouse in Charleston, S.C. right here.

Court TV Host: Welcome, John. Thanks for being our guest today.

John Springer: My pleasure, as always. The judge is going over the prospective verdict sheets right now. There are several findings the jury can come back with: Guilty. Not guilty. Not guilty by reason of insanity. Guilty but mentally ill. The defense wants a lesser included charge of involuntary manslaughter to be considered. Judge thinking it over. Closings are Monday morning.

Question from treebabi: Where are the parents?

John Springer: His father is staying away. He told a defense witness that he did not want to subject himself to questions about how he raised his kids. Christopher's mother abandoned him when he was 1. She came back into his life again in 2001, and the abandoned him again. The prosecution believes that played a role in Christopher's behavior problems.

Question from annie: If found guilty but mentally ill, will he then serve his time in a mental institution/hospital?

John Springer: Yes, for an undetermined period of time. He may even have to go to prison when, and if, he was determined to be no longer mentally ill.

Question from pussywillow: Do you think that the defense witness who talked about the effects of the test with Zoloft and the placebo with be detrimental to the defense?

John Springer: If the jury thinks that is important, yes. He was a Pfizer doctor. He pointed out that just as many kids attempted suicide on placebo as did those on Zoloft during a blind clinical trial. The point, the prosecution says, is that there is no definite link. People commit acts of violence because they are mentally ill all the time. Does the Zoloft cause it or does the mental illness cause it? The jury here will have to decide what happened in this case.

Court TV Host: In your view, does the jury have enough information to attempt to answer that question? How can a jury decide whether Zoloft causes homicidal behavior when scientists and scientific studies can't?

John Springer: The jury has to decide if there is proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Christopher killed his grandparents intentionally. If they believe that Zoloft kept him from forming the mental intent necessary, they'll find him not guilty but mentally ill or not guilty because of involuntary intoxication. If they believe that he wasn't affected by Zoloft to the point where he didn't/couldn't know right from wrong, he would be convicted.

Question from JudgeGuilty: Welcome John.Was he charged with arson as well as murder??

John Springer: Yes, he was. The judge recently transferred the arson case back to juvenile court. The murder counts were just too heinous to be tried as a juvenile, the judge said, (I'm paraphrasing). It's unclear how the prosecution will proceed on the arson charge, if at all, after this trial.

Question from Ellen: In what way could actions 'before' the crime and 'after' the crime affect the outcome ?

John Springer: If he was perfectly normal before the acts and perfectly fine after the Zoloft wore off, it could show that the Zoloft affected him. Much of the case was about this point. The defense says he was a normal, likeable boy with good grades. They may have oversold him a bit because we heard about lots of bad acts. For instance, he went after his sister with a baseball bat and terrorized a relative's dog. His relatives downplayed a lot of acts. They said they were either not true, someone else's fault, typical kid stuff, the result of his age, or the result of Paxil or Zoloft use.

Question from treebabi: Do you think that this will bring a multitude of lawsuits if in fact this child is acquitted?

John Springer: I think lawsuits will come regardless. Not necessarily about this case, but because of it. More and more defendants will at least try a Zoloft defense because of all the stuff in the public record about it now. I don't think Pfizer will be sued because of this case. A civil jury would hear about Christopher's statements that his grandparents deserved to die and that he didn't regret it. That's the hardest thing the defense will have to overcome here.

Question from Linda5NJ: Where will this kid live if he is found not guilty?

John Springer: A forensic hospital. He almost certainly won't be found not guilty outright. It would be not guilty because of insanity or guilty but mentally ill, which would send him to a hospital.

Question from kiara: John, would not it better serve Christopher better to include reasons for not his not being guilty besides Zoloft?

John Springer: Not really. He confessed to numerous people. That all comes in as statements of the defendant. The defense really had no choice but a Zoloft defense.

Question from sandy: Do you think that the jury will be lighter on him due to his age? Does the jury look at him in sympathy or contempt?

John Springer: The jury is not supposed to act out of sympathy, but it's human nature. The defense over and over and over again pointed out that he was 12, small, shy. Then they had people say that they would happily take him even now. Normally, that sort of stuff doesn't come in, but did here. The jury could have sympathy for him, but it wouldn't lead them to vote not guilty outright, I believe, given the facts of the case.

Question from kiara: John, how much does the incredible brutality of the crime factor into this? His shooting in his grandfather's mouth?

John Springer: Well, it would be worse if he woke them up first. But the killings were bad enough.

Question from DON: We only know what Dr. Rold him to take -- do we know what he actually took?

Question from Ellen: Were there any blood tests documented to show exactly what drugs and what levels were in his system ?

John Springer: Dr. told him to take 50mg a day. He told first doctors he was taking 50mg per day. Later on he claimed it was 200mg per day. The prosecution believe Christopher made up the higher dosage after the defense began reading up on Zoloft defenses. I'm not sure if blood tests were done when he first got to jail. I don't think they were.

Question from punky: Wasn't there testimony that Chris went back and forth on regret, sometimes said he did and sometimes not?

John Springer: Early on, he said he didn't regret it and that they deserved it. Later he said he "kinda" regretted it. I'm sure now he really regrets it.

Question from Linda: What about the gun? I will never understand why he was given a gun. Seems like a lot of people ought to be held responsible for his 12 year old behavior.

John Springer: It's a cultural thing. We're in the South. Kids hunt before they can drive.

Court TV Host: Any closing thoughts?

John Springer: Closings are Monday. Prosecution is going to make Chris about to be the "bad seed." Defense will play up what a sweet, undersized, immature, boy he was at the time. Case should go to the jury Monday afternoon. Even if the verdict is after Court TV Daytime goes off the air, we'll report the verdict on Courrtv.com and probably will even stream the verdict live on Court TV Extra.

Court TV Host: Thanks, John. Have a good weekend.

John Springer: Thanks, host and chatters.