Kentucky Man Who Cited Years of Sexual Abuse Pleads Guilty to 2024 Double Murder of Father and Uncle

Brandon Mullins accepts a 40-year sentence for the 2024 murders of his father and uncle, following a defense centered on a history of sexual abuse.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 19, 2026, 7:17 AM EDT

Source: Information for this report was sourced from the Lexington Herald-Leader

A Sudden Resolution to a Complex Double Murder Case

The legal proceedings against a Lincoln County man reached a definitive conclusion this week as Brandon Mullins entered a guilty plea for the May 2024 killings of two family members. Mullins admitted to using a shotgun to fatally shoot his father, 57-year-old Dennis "Ed" Mullins, and his uncle, 55-year-old Anthony Mullins, inside a trailer located in northern Pulaski County. While the defendant originally faced the possibility of the death penalty, the negotiated plea agreement will result in a 40-year prison sentence. The resolution bypasses a scheduled summer trial that was expected to focus heavily on the psychological impact of long-term domestic trauma.

Defense Strategy and the "Extreme Emotional Disturbance" Argument

Prior to the plea, defense attorneys Emily Croucher and Bonnie Potter had signaled their intent to utilize an "extreme emotional disturbance" defense. They argued that Mullins’ actions were the direct result of 15 years of sexual, verbal, and physical abuse perpetrated by the two victims. Specifically, testimony from a 2025 bond hearing alleged that the abuse began when Mullins was a pre-teen, including an incident where he was purportedly plied with moonshine during a fishing trip and subsequently assaulted. The defense maintained that these traumatic experiences were crucial to understanding Mullins' mental state on the day of the shootings.

Prosecutorial Challenges and Allegations of Victim Smearing

Throughout the pretrial phase, prosecutors remained skeptical of the defense's narrative, characterizing the abuse claims as a calculated attempt to "smear" the deceased victims. While several family members and witnesses provided corroborating testimony regarding the volatile and abusive nature of Ed and Anthony Mullins—including one woman who claimed she was unknowingly drugged by Ed Mullins—the state argued that these allegations did not legally justify the premeditated nature of the double homicide. The tension between the documented history of abuse and the gravity of the 2024 violence remained the central conflict of the case until the plea was finalized.