Letcher County, KY Sheriff arrested in shooting death of District Judge

Sheriff Mickey Stines was arrested after surrendering himself to police. The shooting occurred in the judge’s chambers about 3 p.m. this afternoon (September 19).
Stines allegedly walked into the judge’s outer office, told court employees and others gathered there that he needed to speak with District Judge Kevin D. Mullins alone. The two then went into the inner office, closed the door and those outside heard shots. Stines walked out with his hands up and surrendered to police.

Court employees were on the sidewalk outside the courthouse in shock following the shooting. Stines was handcuffed in the foyer of the courthouse. Officials expected the investigation to continue for several more hours.

Sheriff arrested in shooting death of District Judge - The Mountain Eagle

Kentucky State Police and Letcher County Coroner Perry Fowler were still at the Letcher County Courthouse at 5 p.m. today investigating the shooting death of Letcher District Judge Kevin D. Mullins, apparently by the Letcher County Sheriff. Officials say Sheriff Mickey Stines was arrested after...

www.themountaineagle.com

 

[Tresir]

This is a recent article that has a bit more info about that day.

Kentucky courthouse where sheriff allegedly killed judge plagued by sex abuse allegations: lawsuit - WFIN Local News

Former Sheriff Mickey Stines was named in a civil sexual abuse lawsuit and was deposed just days before allegedly killing Judge Kevin Mullins.

wfin.com

 

[noZme]

This is a recent article that has a bit more info about that day.

Kentucky courthouse where sheriff allegedly killed judge plagued by sex abuse allegations: lawsuit - WFIN Local News

Former Sheriff Mickey Stines was named in a civil sexual abuse lawsuit and was deposed just days before allegedly killing Judge Kevin Mullins.

wfin.com

Thanks T.

 

[Kimster]

This is a recent article that has a bit more info about that day.

Kentucky courthouse where sheriff allegedly killed judge plagued by sex abuse allegations: lawsuit - WFIN Local News

Former Sheriff Mickey Stines was named in a civil sexual abuse lawsuit and was deposed just days before allegedly killing Judge Kevin Mullins.

wfin.com

So, the rumors about the sheriff's daughter comes from Stines appearing to see if Mullins had her number in his phone, but according to this article, he didn't. Why was Stines so paranoid? Did he know about the women being extorted for sex? And did Mullins know, or did they just use the judge's chambers because they knew there weren't any cameras in there?

 

[Tresir]

So, the rumors about the sheriff's daughter comes from Stines appearing to see if Mullins had her number in his phone, but according to this article, he didn't. Why was Stines so paranoid? Did he know about the women being extorted for sex? And did Mullins know, or did they just use the judge's chambers because they knew there weren't any cameras in there?

After the victim Adkins told her attorney, I think the cameras went in then to catch the culprits so they could catch and prosecute Deputy Fields. However, I think the cameras caught the Judge too. I don't know why they aren't prosecuting the judge, though. I guess maybe they were going to, but the Sheriff shot him before they could. Maybe, the Sheriff was worried what the judge would say about what went on in his chambers, and that was the reason for the shooting. It is all so corrupt and disgusting, who knows where it ends. This is a county with just 2,000 people isn't it?

 

[GrandmaBear]

This is a recent article that has a bit more info about that day.

Kentucky courthouse where sheriff allegedly killed judge plagued by sex abuse allegations: lawsuit - WFIN Local News

Former Sheriff Mickey Stines was named in a civil sexual abuse lawsuit and was deposed just days before allegedly killing Judge Kevin Mullins.

wfin.com

THAT article has a few tidbits in it I have never seen before. One is that he was out of sorts before they all went to lunch or so it was thought. Another is that he was NOT one in the room with the people chatting with the judge. A fair few.

Maybe I'd seen it before but seems to confirm if they are right, they could see he tried his daughter's number, etc. So it would seem to relate to the daughter somehow.

That is IF news has it right. Good article with a few things in it I wondered, again, IF they have it right.

 

[GrandmaBear]

So, the rumors about the sheriff's daughter comes from Stines appearing to see if Mullins had her number in his phone, but according to this article, he didn't. Why was Stines so paranoid? Did he know about the women being extorted for sex? And did Mullins know, or did they just use the judge's chambers because they knew there weren't any cameras in there?

I found that part a bit vague saying wasn't it, that it "appeared" he didn't have her number in his phone? I can tell that I have in recent months been switching over a phone and I don't have all my contacts in the newer one but I can pull up an old call. Also one can store a number under a different name of course. Not so sure I trust that part or again it seemed a bit not solid, it was just like apparently the contact wasn't in his phone...

As to cameras and using the chambers do you mean the judge and stine or the sexual activity?

 

[GrandmaBear]

After the victim Adkins told her attorney, I think the cameras went in then to catch the culprits so they could catch and prosecute Deputy Fields. However, I think the cameras caught the Judge too. I don't know why they aren't prosecuting the judge, though. I guess maybe they were going to, but the Sheriff shot him before they could. Maybe, the Sheriff was worried what the judge would say about what went on in his chambers, and that was the reason for the shooting. It is all so corrupt and disgusting, who knows where it ends. This is a county with just 2,000 people isn't it?

Well I just heard not all that long ago from an atty. show that judges have immunity of just about anything they do while in office, not sure if it extends to sexual activity but it sounded as if more or less anything--per a Supreme Court decision I believe some time ago, and it was not this case that was being discussed.

I don't trust some things being said just because I agree with you, this was a corrupt little mess, at least half of this courthouse, and pretty hard to buy the others in it had no clue. Is that all the population is? Of the ENTIRE county? Wow, pretty big for their britches then but much easier to stay in control then too I'd suppose...

 

[GrandmaBear]

I'd also have to wonder or think that these were cameras that could not be "seen"?

That article also made it sound as if Stines knew this was probably going to be his last day of freedom or some such which lends to the idea he came to work intending to do this.

 

[Tresir]

Well I just heard not all that long ago from an atty. show that judges have immunity of just about anything they do while in office, not sure if it extends to sexual activity but it sounded as if more or less anything--per a Supreme Court decision I believe some time ago, and it was not this case that was being discussed.

I don't trust some things being said just because I agree with you, this was a corrupt little mess, at least half of this courthouse, and pretty hard to buy the others in it had no clue. Is that all the population is? Of the ENTIRE county? Wow, pretty big for their britches then but much easier to stay in control then too I'd suppose...

Harvard article about Judicial immunity.

Judicial Immunity at the (Second) Founding: A New Perspective on § 1983 - Harvard Law Review

Immunity doctrines have received increased scrutiny in recent years, both in academic scholarship and in the popular press. While the overwhelming majority of the...

harvardlawreview.org

 

[Tresir]

This case sure has got it all, hasn't it? Murder, sex for favours, bribery, corruption, bent judiciary and LE, small town corruption and mysteries.

I came across this local report of the case that confirms the small population count and a few other things.

Sheriff charged with murder allegedly ignored deputy's abuse of a woman

Mickey Stines is accused in a lawsuit of ignoring abuse by a deputy, who pleaded guilty to forcing a woman to have sex in the same judge’s chambers.

spectrumnews1.com

Sheriff charged with murder allegedly ignored deputy's abuse of a woman​

BY Associated Press Kentucky

PUBLISHED 12:21 PM ET Sep. 20, 2024

WHITESBURG, Ky. — The sheriff charged with murder in the shooting of a rural Kentucky judge in his courthouse chambers was accused in a federal lawsuit of failing to investigate allegations that one of his deputies repeatedly sexually abused a woman in the same judge’s chambers.

---

What You Need To Know​

• Shawn "Mickey" Stines is named in federal lawsuit accusing him of failing to investigate sexual assault within his department
• Stines was deposed Monday, Sept. 16, 2024 in the case
• The lawsuit alleges the sexual assault took place in the Judge Kevin Mullins' chambers
• Stines killed Mullins in his chambers on Sept. 19, 2024

​

​

The preliminary investigation shows that Letcher County Sheriff Mickey Stines shot District Judge Kevin Mullins multiple times on Thursday following an argument inside the courthouse, according to Kentucky State Police.

Mullins, who held the judgeship for 15 years, died at the scene, and Stines surrendered without incident.
Just what the two men were arguing about wasn’t immediately made clear.
Stines was deposed on Monday in a lawsuit filed by two women, one of whom alleged that a deputy forced her to have sex inside Mullins’ chambers for six months in exchange for staying out of jail. The lawsuit accuses the sheriff of “deliberate indifference in failing to adequately train and supervise” the deputy.
The now-former deputy sheriff, Ben Fields, pleaded guilty to raping the female prisoner while she was on home incarceration. Fields was sentenced this year to six months in jail and then six and a half years on probation for rape, sodomy, perjury and tampering with a prisoner monitoring device, The Mountain Eagle reported. Three charges related to a second woman were dismissed because she is now dead.
Stines fired Fields, who was his successor as Mullins’ bailiff, for “conduct unbecoming” after the lawsuit was filed in 2022, The Courier Journal reported.
The killing of the judge sent shock waves through the tight-knit Appalachian town. Whitesburg is the county seat of government with about 1,700 residents located about 145 miles southeast of Lexington. Rather than hold the sheriff in the local jail, authorities booked Stines into the Leslie County Detention Center, two counties away, where he remained Friday morning.

 

[GrandmaBear]

Harvard article about Judicial immunity.

Judicial Immunity at the (Second) Founding: A New Perspective on § 1983 - Harvard Law Review

Immunity doctrines have received increased scrutiny in recent years, both in academic scholarship and in the popular press. While the overwhelming majority of the...

harvardlawreview.org

Thanks, it is very informative but very long. I got a long ways in and it kept going and I looked ahead to see how much I had left and there's more than what I'd already read to go yet. I think what I did read which was a lot says a lot. There were some examples too that fit a few things. An example of a judge who harassed and assaulted two women working for him in his chambers, he was not immune as no bit of a judicial act could be tied to that. However, if any hint of a judicial act can be tied, then the judge is immune. Imo if he was doing women in his chambers for instance, and he had presided over a case of theirs, even if what he is doing is wrong, he'd be immune is the way I take things. Also it says the scope is very, very broad for the immunity.

As to the lawsuit from the woman, he'd likely also be immune if he was the presiding judge over a one of her/their cases ever.

It was Scott Reisch/Crime Talk that talked of the judicial immunity thing. It's maddening and it is just wrong.

Our schools are immune, city offices and other govt. offices, I've known that forever which is wrong too.

Is it like that there? I'd hope not as it isn't right.

So sheriff could have been mad at his probable or known immunity in the case perhaps but how would daughter play in? I am totally speculating here, totally, but if the judge ever had any hint of a judicial act with the daughter yet was doing something with her, he'd probably be immune. Stines may have already seen that in the other case or realized it, and maybe he was threatening the judge of bringing him down or seeing him prosecuted over the daughter and perhaps the judge calmly told him it wouldn't do him any good... And so on.

I don't know, it is frustrating because we just don't know. I think we have covered the main and key possibilities here more than once and we just aren't going to have an answer until more comes.

I could say a few more things but don't see the point I guess.

 

[GrandmaBear]

This case sure has got it all, hasn't it? Murder, sex for favours, bribery, corruption, bent judiciary and LE, small town corruption and mysteries.

I came across this local report of the case that confirms the small population count and a few other things.

Sheriff charged with murder allegedly ignored deputy's abuse of a woman

Mickey Stines is accused in a lawsuit of ignoring abuse by a deputy, who pleaded guilty to forcing a woman to have sex in the same judge’s chambers.

spectrumnews1.com

Sheriff charged with murder allegedly ignored deputy's abuse of a woman​

BY Associated Press Kentucky

PUBLISHED 12:21 PM ET Sep. 20, 2024

WHITESBURG, Ky. — The sheriff charged with murder in the shooting of a rural Kentucky judge in his courthouse chambers was accused in a federal lawsuit of failing to investigate allegations that one of his deputies repeatedly sexually abused a woman in the same judge’s chambers.

---

What You Need To Know​

• Shawn "Mickey" Stines is named in federal lawsuit accusing him of failing to investigate sexual assault within his department
• Stines was deposed Monday, Sept. 16, 2024 in the case
• The lawsuit alleges the sexual assault took place in the Judge Kevin Mullins' chambers
• Stines killed Mullins in his chambers on Sept. 19, 2024

​

​

​

The preliminary investigation shows that Letcher County Sheriff Mickey Stines shot District Judge Kevin Mullins multiple times on Thursday following an argument inside the courthouse, according to Kentucky State Police.

Mullins, who held the judgeship for 15 years, died at the scene, and Stines surrendered without incident.
Just what the two men were arguing about wasn’t immediately made clear.
Stines was deposed on Monday in a lawsuit filed by two women, one of whom alleged that a deputy forced her to have sex inside Mullins’ chambers for six months in exchange for staying out of jail. The lawsuit accuses the sheriff of “deliberate indifference in failing to adequately train and supervise” the deputy.
The now-former deputy sheriff, Ben Fields, pleaded guilty to raping the female prisoner while she was on home incarceration. Fields was sentenced this year to six months in jail and then six and a half years on probation for rape, sodomy, perjury and tampering with a prisoner monitoring device, The Mountain Eagle reported. Three charges related to a second woman were dismissed because she is now dead.
Stines fired Fields, who was his successor as Mullins’ bailiff, for “conduct unbecoming” after the lawsuit was filed in 2022, The Courier Journal reported.
The killing of the judge sent shock waves through the tight-knit Appalachian town. Whitesburg is the county seat of government with about 1,700 residents located about 145 miles southeast of Lexington. Rather than hold the sheriff in the local jail, authorities booked Stines into the Leslie County Detention Center, two counties away, where he remained Friday morning.

Good reminder that FIELDS did not get what he deserved AT ALL showing even more of the corruption and buddy/buddy system in my opinion. Rape, sodomy, perjury and tampering with a monitoring device.

Stines name was being splashed all over the news while nothing was happening to the judge. I wouldn't say the county wanted it but he was the one under the most heat.

Even now, there is supposedly info of what the judge was doing too but the county sure ain't talking about it.

Who the heck is the sheriff now? Fields was deputy sheriff, Stines is in jail, so who did they put in there?

 

[Tresir]

Well so all that could explain the motive for the murder certainly, the sheriff realising that nothing will happen to the judge so he dispensed justice himself, in his own eyes. But I don't see that as temporary insanity do you? Vigilantism though. Did he know the cameras were there and would record it all?

 

[GrandmaBear]

Well so all that could explain the motive for the murder certainly, the sheriff realising that nothing will happen to the judge so he dispensed justice himself, in his own eyes. But I don't see that as temporary insanity do you? Vigilantism though. Did he know the cameras were there and would record it all?

I think it as vigilantism no matter what the reason. I don't know, if the daughter plays in at all, and thinking judge wouldn't get justice, or who knows, temporary insanity may fly. I don't know that they are talking temporary though and I haven't seen much of that in the last few years, they are going for insanity aren't they? I mentioned temporary insanity I think, darned if I can recall. Anyhow, temporary is more like a heat of passion thing, you react over something that just is so bad in the heat of the moment, etc. I don't know... Don't take my word for that but that's how I've always seen it.

I don't know of either knew of the cameras but I have a feeling the judge may have... I mean they had to be hidden IF they were there to catch sex acts and such but there is a possibility they had been there always, do we know for sure? It would seem more likely though that they were installed due to the investigation...

One reason I think the judge may have known of the cameras is he stays so calm during Stines' rising anger... I mean judges need to show calm so that could be it but in a courtroom when someone is getting that out of control, the gavel comes down, a bailiff maybe steps in, etc. so still strikes me odd he'd stay calm with no protection. I also just feel it possibly the judge wasn't going to help the sheriff and/or flipped on him...? And yet then the daughter plays in somehow. Sigh... So frustrating.

Corrupt little place very obviously.

 

[GrandmaBear]

Actually ran into a show on this that was pretty good. I am having a heck of a time linking things lately.

Gavin Fish, can't say I watch him a lot but always been okay and the woman on with him was from Letcher County actually. There were some things in there I did not know. For one the sheriff's already was not running for re-election and was going to be done, retire, etc. Other tidbits. It was a pastor I think that was out delivering food after lunch that followed Stines into the room. She knew who every single person in the room was except for one who she'd seen many a time but she didn't know her position, she knew of ALL the others. I did not even pick up on that someone did follow the sheriff into the room! It was interesting, I felt worth the watch. I mean they are also trying to figure out as we are what exactly the reason was but there were tidbits in here. The teens were talking even before the sheriff was shot, don't you know that about the judge? Liking teens is what I mean. If I recall she didn't give it much credence at the time but now she thinks OKAYYY maybe they did know.... About that part anyhow. It's pretty interesting... I guess she has her own channel as well. Haven't checked it out but they were on together on his channel and she is from that small county...

 

[Tresir]

Actually ran into a show on this that was pretty good. I am having a heck of a time linking things lately.

Gavin Fish, can't say I watch him a lot but always been okay and the woman on with him was from Letcher County actually. There were some things in there I did not know. For one the sheriff's already was not running for re-election and was going to be done, retire, etc. Other tidbits. It was a pastor I think that was out delivering food after lunch that followed Stines into the room. She knew who every single person in the room was except for one who she'd seen many a time but she didn't know her position, she knew of ALL the others. I did not even pick up on that someone did follow the sheriff into the room! It was interesting, I felt worth the watch. I mean they are also trying to figure out as we are what exactly the reason was but there were tidbits in here. The teens were talking even before the sheriff was shot, don't you know that about the judge? Liking teens is what I mean. If I recall she didn't give it much credence at the time but now she thinks OKAYYY maybe they did know.... About that part anyhow. It's pretty interesting... I guess she has her own channel as well. Haven't checked it out but they were on together on his channel and she is from that small county...

You mean before the judge was shot?

 

[GrandmaBear]

You mean before the judge was shot?

Yes, judge not sheriff. Kind of like I said before, most or many know it in small areas I'd say especially. People talk. Was interesting anyhow. Then I should have looked for her channel too, never got around to it but she is from the county and is covering it, they both are. I hadn't really seen or looked for it anywhere else.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

KSP bodycam footage shows Letcher County sheriff accused of murder expressing fear for his life

Bodycam footage taken minutes after then-Letcher County Sheriff Mickey Stines allegedly shot District Judge Kevin Mullins to death last September shows Stines telling state troopers he was in fear for his life.

www.weku.org

KSP bodycam footage shows Letcher County sheriff accused of murder expressing fear for his life​

Bodycam footage taken minutes after then-Letcher County Sheriff Mickey Stines allegedly shot District Judge Kevin Mullins to death last September shows Stines telling state troopers he was in fear for his life. Early in the questioning, a trooper explained to Stines that they would take him to the Leslie County Detention Center, rather than the local jail.

“You know how it is, something like this, we're going to be worried about you in the jail down here with local people. You know.”

“Right now I'm alive and well, no weapons on me. I leave this building, I won't draw another breath.”

Despite repeated reassurances from state troopers, some of whom he’d known for years, Stines remained agitated.

“You all are gonna kill me, I know you are.”

“No. Would you think that, Mickey?”

“Let’s just get it over with. Let’s go.”

“You don't want to let us know what happened? Okay.”

Despite being asked repeatedly, Stines never explained what happened. Days before, he’d testified in a civil suit against a deputy in charge of the county’s home incarceration program who went to prison for sexual abuse. Stines’ attorney Jeremy Bartley has said he’ll pursue a defense of insanity and extreme emotional disturbance.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Bad news for Kentucky sheriff who shot judge dead in his chambers

Sheriff Shawn 'Mickey' Stines gunned down his friend of 30 years, Judge Kevin Mullins, inside a county courthouse on September 19.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Bad news for Kentucky sheriff who shot judge friend dead in his chambers​

Former prosecutors claim the Kentucky sheriff who shot a local judge dead in his chambers last year faces an uphill battle with his insanity defense.


Stines' lawyers plan to present an insanity defense if the case goes to trial, claiming two weeks of intense stress drove him to murder.

Defense attorney Jeremy Bartley claimed Stines irrationally feared for the lives of his family after being questioned at a deposition for a sexual assault lawsuit.

The sheriff told officers seconds after the shooting, 'They’re trying to kidnap my wife and kid,' and expressed fear he would be murdered on the way to jail.

But two former prosecutors believe a jury is unlikely to believe he was insane as he appeared to know right from wrong when he pulled the trigger.

Georgia legal expert Phil Holloway pointed to Kentucky State Police bodycam footage of Stines being arrested minutes after the shooting.

Stines was terrified of being transported to the Leslie County Jail, an hour's drive away, and begged to be locked up in the one next door instead.

'I leave this building, I won't draw another breath,' he told them while handcuffed, his leg nervously shaking.

Stines said he was worried the transport would stop along the way, and someone else would get in the car and kill him.

Holloway said Stines' fear that he would be killed, however paranoid or delusional, showed he knew that murder was wrong.

'If they know right from wrong, they can still be convicted even if they have a mental health issue,' he told Fox News.

'He knows that killing is wrong because he's asking the police to not kill him.'

Michael Wynne, a former prosecutor in Houston, said the CCTV footage of the moments leading up to the shooting was even more damning.


'The video shows he knows what he's doing is wrong. If you don't know what you're doing is wrong, you don't usher everybody else out of the room, and you don't go ahead and make sure the door is closed,' he said.

'Those are all things that show that he has an ability to make cognizant decisions.'

Wynne said Stines risked a harsher sentence by trying an insanity defense, as the judge and jury could 'punish' him for pursuing it.

Bartley issued a legal filing saying his client's state of mind at the time of the shooting would be key to his upcoming trial.

 

[Cousin Dupree]

Just tell me what this is all about!!