PICKENS — Suzanna Brown Simpson, the Dacusville mother accused of shooting and killing her children and trying to kill her husband in May, waived a preliminary hearing scheduled for this week.

Last Tuesday, Pickens County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Creed Hashe informed media that the hearing, which was set for July 8 at the Pickens County Court House, had been waived at the request of Simpson’s defense counsel.

Hashe said the public defender’s office notified Pickens County Magistrate Mike Gillespie of the request.

The hearing was the second to be waived by Simpson’s defense, as an arraignment hearing set for May 21, the day after her arrest, was also canceled following a request from the public defender’s office.

Simpson, 35, who is currently being treated for injuries suffered in a single-vehicle accident at the Greenville County Detention Center, faces two murder charges in the deaths of her children, 7-year-old Carly Ashelyn Simpson and 5-year-old Sawyer Russell Simpson, an attempted murder charge in the shooting of her husband, Michael John Simpson, 34, and one charge of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.

An investigation into the single-vehicle accident that injured Simpson led to the discovery of the shooting victims May 14.

According to 911 calls released by the PCSO, a neighbor was the first to respond to the accident, which happened a very short distance from the Cherokee Trail home.

The neighbor told a dispatcher that the driver of a pickup truck had driven over some trees and run off the road into a ditch. He said the driver didn’t know where she was or who she was and had been knocked unconscious.

In a second call, the neighbor gave the first indication that there was more to the case than a simple accident, telling the dispatcher “something’s not right here.”

“The lady that wrecked is my neighbor, and I’ve never seen her this early in the morning,” he said. “Her husband’s truck and the other car is still in the yard. I can’t get her husband or kids to the door. She’s got two little kids, like 5 and 7.

“Something’s not right, and she can’t tell me because she don’t know. She’s talking away. She don’t know what’s going on, but we need somebody here to check this house.”

After medical officials and deputies arrived at the scene of the accident, deputies visited the Simpson home, finding the children shot dead in their beds and the father in serious condition with at least one gunshot wound to the head.

According to warrants, officers said Simpson told EMS personnel “OK, OK, I shot my whole family.”

Thirteenth Circuit Solicitor Walt Wilkins has said Simpson could be eligible for the death penalty.