THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 9, 1996 TAG: 9603090428
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: BARTOW, FLA. LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
Ten-year-old Timmy Becton hated going to school.
He missed so many days that his parents took him to a therapist, who sent him to a psychiatrist, who gave his mother a box of Prozac for Timmy.
Weeks later, police say, the fourth-grader grabbed his 3-year-old niece as a shield and aimed a 12-gauge shotgun at a sheriff's deputy who accompanied a truant officer to his home.
``I'd sooner shoot you than go to school,'' the boy shouted, according to police.
Timmy's is the first known court case to involve a child using Prozac, the popular antidepressant drug. He has been charged in Polk County juvenile court with aggravated assault with a firearm on a law enforcement officer and armed kidnapping.
His lawyer blames the seven-minute standoff on Prozac.
``Timmy Becton was under the influence of a mind-altering drug at the time of the incident,'' defense lawyer Ellis Rubin said after a brief court hearing Thursday. ``The drug ought to be taken off the market.''
Prozac is the world's largest-selling antidepressant, with sales of more than $1 billion a year.
Lawyers have presented Prozac use as a defense in 66 criminal cases, but none have been successful, according to the drug's maker, Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly & Co.
``No medical evidence has been brought forward to support the Prozac defense,'' Lilly spokesman Jeff Taylor said. ``It ranks right up there with the Twinkie defense and the TV dependency defense as pretty shaky.''
Timmy skipped school on President's Day, Feb. 19, because he felt it was unfair that students in a neighboring county had the day off while his district remained open, his mother said.
After the deputy and truant officer arrived at the Bectons' Lakeland home, 40 miles east of Tampa, police say Timmy sat on a sofa and aimed the gun at a deputy, while hiding behind his niece, Tiffany.
His family says the gun is bigger than the 4-foot, 70-pound boy, and he never pointed it at police.
The standoff ended when Timmy's grandmother arrived, pushed past the deputy and took the gun.
``I said, `Timmy, why are you doing this?' '' said his grandmother, Minnie Lee Parker. ``He said, `I don't know, Grandma.' He was scared.''
Timmy had been held at a juvenile detention center until a judge ordered him to be released to his parent's custody Thursday. His trial date was scheduled for April 18. If convicted, he could be held at a detention center until age 21. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Timmy Becton, 10, in juvenile court in Bartow, Fla., on Thursday,
has been charged with aggravated assault.
KEYWORDS: PROZAC JUVENILE AGGRAVATED ASSAULT by CNB