A Hempstead judge postponed a ruling Wednesday on an assault case involving the anti-depressant drug Zoloft.

The judge was to rule whether or not he will allow a Coram man to claim the assault of his former girlfriend was due to withdrawal after he stopped taking the drug.

Brandon Hampson is accused of beating Lisa Essling, of Malverne, in 2006. A doctor is slated to testify in Hampson's defense that the drug could make him violent, but the district attorney in the case challenged the testimony.

?The withdrawal from the Zoloft caused the aggression that was exhibited, and this was something that was not part of the warning, black box warning [on the package,]? says Hampson?s defense attorney Eric Bernstein.

The FDA has not included violent episodes in its Zoloft warnings, but Hampson's attorney says there is other scientific evidence that the drug causes aggression.

The judge says she will make the ruling at least two weeks before the trial starts, on Sept. 8.