Neb. Inmate's Suit Over Zoloft Latest in a Series

A lawsuit by a Nebraska inmate serving time for his girlfriend's murder, blaming a widely prescribed antidepressant for influencing his behavior, echoes similar claims in other cases.

But none of the cases have prevailed against Zoloft's maker, Pfizer Inc., which says the drug is safe and effective.

Randall Robbins II, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the 2002 strangulation of 17-year-old Brittany Eurek, argues that both Pfizer and his doctor should have known that Zoloft might have made him attempt suicide and commit murder.

He says the drug intensified his agitation, suicidal desires, hysterical behavior and hostility and diminished his self-control.

Those arguments are similar to claims made in a few other cases since 2004, when antidepressants gained new warning labels highlighting the risk of suicidal behavior in people under 18.

In 2007, the South Carolina Supreme Court upheld the conviction of Christopher Pittman, who is serving a 30-year sentence for killing his grandparents when he was 12. The court rejected his argument that he was involuntarily intoxicated by taking Zoloft and didn't know what he was doing when he killed his grandparents and burned down their home in 2001.

A year earlier, the North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed the conviction of a man who killed a 19-year-old woman with a shotgun and later tried to blame the 2003 slaying on the antidepressant drug. Zachary Schmidkunz is serving a 35-year prison term.

Zoloft is one of the most widely prescribed antidepressants in the United States. In 2004, the Food and Drug Administration ordered Zoloft and other antidepressants to carry "black box" warnings — the government's strongest warning short of a ban — about an increased risk of suicidal behavior in children.

It's not clear what Pfizer or Robbins' doctor would have known about those risks two years before the FDA action, when Eurek was killed.