CHARLESTON, S.C. — Two days before he shot his grandparents to death, burned their house down and fled, 12-year-old Christopher Pittman appeared to be doing so well that his family doctor considered taking him off the antidepressant Zoloft, the physician testified Wednesday.

"He looked great," said Dr. Eric Naumann, who treated Christopher for mild depression during the three weeks leading up to the Nov. 28, 2001, shotgun slayings of Joe and Joy Pittman as they slept.

Prosecutors called Naumann to the stand to refute the defense's core contention: that Zoloft chemically and temporarily altered Christopher's brain, causing him to kill the family members he called "Pop-Pop" and "Nanna."

Naumann first met Christopher and Joy Pittman, 62, during their visit to his Chester, S.C., office on Nov. 5, 2001. That was Christopher's first day at Chester Middle School after moving in with his grandparents.

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The shy, 94-pound preteen was having trouble relating to his "perfectionist" father in Florida, and he had previously spent six days in a psychiatric facility and was prescribed Paxil for depression, Naumann said he was told.

Joy Pittman indicated to Naumann that she wanted Paxil for Christopher, but Naumann said he prescribed 50 mg of Zoloft instead. Naumann told jurors that Christopher reported having trouble sleeping but generally felt "good" and had no thoughts of harming himself.

"He appeared to be OK," Naumann testified.

When the initial Zoloft sample kit was finished, Joy Pittman brought Christopher back to see Naumann as instructed. It was Monday, Nov. 26, less than a week after Joe Frank Pittman Jr. had given his son a .410-gauge pump-action shotgun. The elder Pittman had received the same gun from his father, Joe Pittman Sr., when he was growing up.

Naumann's notes indicate that Christopher reported having a lot of energy, a good appetite, a new girlfriend and was sleeping well.

"Did he appear to be under the influence of anything?" prosecutor John Meadors asked.

"No, he looked great," Naumann said.

Although he considered taking Christopher off Zoloft, Naumann said he gave the boy a six-week supply and instructions to continue on the one-pill-a-day dose of 50 mg. The testimony contradicted a defense contention during Monday's opening statement that Naumann may have doubled the dosage just before the killings.

Defense attorney Paul Waldner got Naumann to concede that sometimes patients do not understand or follow the instructions given to them by their doctors concerning medications.

"I told him and I wrote it down on the bag," Naumann said later in his testimony.

"Are you aware that the Food and Drug Administration has not authorized prescribing Zoloft for children with depression?" Waldner asked.

"Yes," Naumann said, adding that he was also aware of a subsequent public health advisory about the potential increase in suicidal urges for people beginning to take antidepressants or when they have the dosages increased.

Waldner asked Naumann if he would have given Christopher the initial Zoloft starter kit, a sample a representative of the drug maker Pfizer Inc. had provided, if the FDA had issued warnings earlier.

"Honestly, I don't know," the physician replied.

Noting that Paxil and other drugs that are not officially approved by the FDA are prescribed routinely, the prosecutor tried to downplay the significance of Naumann having prescribed Zoloft to Christopher.

"It was OK for you to prescribe off label to Christopher Pittman, wasn't it?" Meadors asked.

"As far as I know, yes," Naumann said.

It is unclear how the defense will counter Naumann's testimony that Christopher's prescription for Zoloft was not increased between his Nov. 5 and Nov. 26 visits in 2001. The day after Christopher last saw Naumann, he tried to choke a second-grader on a school bus. The next day, he killed his grandparents.

The defense contends that both incidents were so far out of character for Christopher that Zoloft is the best explanation for his actions. Prosecutors, however, argue that Christopher had emotional, behavioral and psychiatric problems before and after he was on Zoloft.

In a chilling courtroom demonstration, a South Carolina state police firearms expert pumped and fired the shotgun to illustrate the actions Christopher would have had to do take to load the gun with bird shot, then shoot his grandparents.

Christopher, now 15 and being tried as an adult, faces life in prison if convicted of two counts of murder. He has been held in a juvenile detention center since the killings. On Wednesday, however, Judge Danny Pieper agreed to let him be released on bond as long as he remains under house arrest and is monitored electronically when he is not in court. The paperwork necessary to secure Christopher's release is not expected to be finalized until Thursday.