Accused Killer Susan Hendricks Pleaded Guilty But Mentally Ill

UPDATE: 4:45pm, FRIDAY, April 26

Accused killer Susan Hendricks was sentenced to four life sentences for the murders of four of her family members, including two of her sons.

Hendricks entered a plea of guilty but mentally ill for the murders of Marshall Wayne Hendricks, 20, Mark Wayne Hendricks, 52, Matthew Wayne Hendricks, 23 and Linda Ann Burns, 64.

Public Defender John Mauldin said his client did not want to stand trial.

“She never, never want to go through some re-traumatizing of this Pickens community,” Mauldin said. “Susan knows what the sentence will be.”

Mauldin said there were many victims in the “extraordinary and terrible tragedy.”

“The four victims who lost their lives, Susan Hendricks who essentially gave up the rest of her life, the extended family on both sides of this courtroom and the extended Pickens community,” he said. “This has been a tragedy for the entire community.”

Mauldin called forensic, clinical and neurological psychiatrist Dr. David Price to testify on Hendricks' mental condition throughout her life and at the time of the killings.

Price said that he found Hendricks has dis-associative identity disorder - also known as multiple personality disorder – as well as post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of being sexually and physically abuse as a child.

“This is the worst I’ve ever seen,” Price said, of the abuse.

“She's had it so long, it's not curable,” he said, of the post-traumatic stress disorder.

Solicitor Walt Wilkins III asked Price if Hendricks knew right from wrong.

Price testified that Hendricks did know right from wrong, but that another personality was in control of her actions that night.

Judge Letitia Verdin asked Hendricks if she understood what she was in court for.

“To plead guilty to four counts of murder,” Hendricks said.

Wilkins said Hendricks tried to make it look like one of the four victims had killed the other three before taking his own life.

Verdin found that Hendricks was able to understand the nature of the proceedings “extremely well.”

She said that the defense proved that Susan Hendricks suffers from mental disorders today and that she suffered from them at the time of the murders.

She also found that Hendricks had the capacity to distinguish right from wrong and “recognized her act as being wrong, but due to her illnesses, she was unable to conform to the conduct as required under the law.”

The weapons charges Hendricks also faced were dismissed as part of the plea negotiation.

Several family members addressed the court.

Burns' brother Gordon Finley said that he hope the four victims would stand in judgment over Hendricks when she died, as she stood in judgment over them.

“I hope God has mercy on her soul,” Finley said.

Stephanie Hopkins spoke of her uncle, Mark, and her other family members.

“It is very difficult to put into words the effect the deaths have had and will continue to have on our family,” she said.

Mark Hendricks was “loving and self-sacrificing,” Hopkins said. “He was a father figure to many."

Matthew Hendricks was “fun-loving and full of life,” Hopkins said.

She remembered her cousin Marshall as “an excellent artist” planning to marry the “love of his life” after her graduation.

Linda Burns was a “very loving woman,” devoted to Matthew and Marshall, Hopkins said.

“These were the type of people you could call on for anything and they would be there,” Hopkins said. “Their spirit lives on through us and we will strive to devote every minute of every day to living life to the fullest, just as they would if they were here.”

Mauldin thanked the Solicitor's Office for being willing to negotiate and avoid a drawn out trial where “nobody really wins.”

Hendricks has 10 days to appeal the sentence if she choose to, Verdin said.

ORIGINAL STORY, 3:24PM, Friday, April 26

The woman accused of murdering four members of her family, including her own sons, pleaded guilty but mentally ill Friday afternoon in a Pickens County courtroom.

Susan Hendricks was sentenced to life in prison on all four counts of murder. The weapons charges against her were dismissed as part of a plea arrangement.

A forensic clinical psychologist said that Hendricks was competent to stand trial, but not capable of acting under the requirements of the law.

When questioned by the solicitor's office, the psychologist said that Hendricks knew right from wrong at the time she allegedly murdered her family, but could not stop herself.

The psychologist said that Hendricks suffers from dissociative identity disorder and also post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of physical and sexual abuse.

The bodies of Marshall Wayne Hendricks, 20, Mark Wayne Hendricks, 52, Matthew Wayne Hendricks, 23 and Linda Ann Burns, 64,

Mark Wayne Hendricks was the father of Marshall and Matthew. Burns was Susan Hendricks' stepmother and the step-grandmother of Marshall and Matthew, Pickens County Coroner Kandy Kelley said.