ROCK HILL, S.C. — A 15-year-old boy accused of killing his grandparents will have another bond hearing after more than three years in jail.

Christopher Pittman’s lawyers will ask a judge to let him out until his trial at a hearing Thursday in Berkeley County.

Pittman last had a bond hearing just days after he was arrested and charged with the shotgun deaths of his grandparents in November 2001. He was 12 at the time of the killings.

Defense attorneys say Pittman did not know right from wrong because he was impaired by a high dose of the anti-depressant Zoloft.

Prosecutors said Pittman’s actions dispute that. They say he waited until 66-year-old Joe Frank Pittman and 62-year-old Joy Pittman were asleep, then shot them both, set their home on fire to cover his tracks, drove off in the family car and first told police he was kidnapped by a man who killed his grandparents.

Still undecided is whether Pittman will be tried as a juvenile or an adult. Shortly after Pittman’s arrest, a judge ruled he should be tried as an adult, meaning he could face 30 years to life in prison if convicted of murder.

North Charleston

mayor, family attacked

CHARLESTON, S.C. — The mayor of North Charleston was shot at after he pursued three men who snatched his daughter’s purse while the family was out shopping.

No one was injured and Mayor Keith Summey backed away from the shooter’s line of sight, North Charleston police spokesman Spencer Pryor said.

Police found a 16-year-old male hiding inside a trash bin behind the shopping center. Police did not release his name.

North Charleston police Lt. Ken Hagge said officers and Charleston County sheriff’s deputies were looking for the other two suspects in the area surrounding Interstate 26.

Police described one suspect as a black man, 6 feet tall, about 150 pounds, with a short cornrow hairstyle and wearing a yellow fleece pullover with a black stripe on the sleeve. Police had an incomplete description of the third suspect.

Summey was shopping with his wife, his two adult children and his mother-in-law when they were approached by the men about 3 p.m. at Gaslight Square shopping center, police said.

Most teens who invaded

late judge’s home avoid court

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A student at a Columbia high school who police said made a threatening call to a judge has been given probation after the most serious charge was dropped.

The juvenile, whose name was not released, called Appeals Court Judge Carol Connor about a month after two dozen teenagers broke into her home and stole some items. ‘‘We’re going to kill you,’’ the teen told the judge in September 2003.

Connor died this past February after a long battle with cancer.

Prosecutors dropped a charge of threatening a public official because there was evidence the then-15-year-old did not know Connor was a public official, said David Pascoe, an assistant prosecutor for Richland County who handled the 2003 case.

The teen got probation on a charge of illegal use of a telephone. Most of the nearly two dozen teenagers who broke into and trashed Connor’s home managed to avoid court, the prosecutor said.