Distressed sociopath ignores pacts in US state (4)
I believe the answer is:
ohio
'us state' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'distressed sociopath ignores pacts' is the wordplay.
'distressed' indicates an anagram.
'ignores' indicates named letters should be taken away.
'sociopath' with 'pacts' taken out is 'oioh'.
'oioh' with letters rearranged gives 'OHIO'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for ohio that I've seen before include "American region" , "Turning engine part" , "State of east central US" , "part of the Midwest!" , "Supporting framework" .)