Man Who Murdered 4 in His Family Found Not Guilty

A South Carolina man who murdered four family members was found not guilty Friday by reason of insanity, WCSC reports. In a bench trial, Jennifer Kneece Shealy of the Ninth Circuit's Solicitor's Office said Lovequawn Scott was clearly ill and had been refused help at a mental health facility the day before the 2018 murders. "He was denied treatment because he did not have the requisite funds and no insurance," she said. The court heard that Scott had behaved strangely for weeks and, the day before the murders, went to church and shouted that he needed help, per the Post and Courier.

So his aunt took him to the mental health facility, where he said a small man in his throat was "telling him to do things he didn't want to do," said Shealy. Denied help, he returned to his Mount Pleasant home and later bludgeoned his grandparents, niece, and aunt to death, per WSOC-TV. Afterward, Scott was taken to a psychiatric hospital and named three of his victims for his visitation list, apparently unaware they were dead. Detectives who questioned him said he thought they wanted to poison him and told police he did "not want to hear any evil." Scott will be placed in a mental health facility, where he might remain or be released if officials decide he's cooperative and no longer a public threat. (More murder trial stories.)