20-year sentence for the co-defendant wife

A 56-year woman received a 20-year sentence in the Oconee General Sessions Court for multiple instances of incest and sexual conduct with a minor. Edna Sluder will get credit for 337 days in jail, awaiting her plea of guilty. Her husband, Anthony, was ordered earlier this week to spend 25 years in prison for his part in sex crimes which the sentencing judge conceded that he had a difficult time understanding. Although Mrs. Sluder admitted guilt, her defense lawyer and a doctor described her as a fragile woman who, because of her religious beliefs, was led into the behavior by a domineering husband, to whom she deferred in his role as head of the household. Deputy Solicitor Lindsey Simmons, however, pleaded with Judge Maddox to reject that as a line of defense or explanation. As Simmons put it, “She (Mrs. Sluder) is the reason he is broken”—a reference to the emotional state of one of the Sluders’ sons who gave testimony this week against his parents. What Judge Cordell Maddox admitted that he had much difficulty accepting was Mrs. Sluder’s explanation that the sex acts were a form of punishment for their children’s failure to behave or do chores, such as cleaning their rooms.