It is said that the former Kentucky sheriff who killed a judge was having a “extreme emotional disturbance” at the time of the shooting.
Shawn “Mickey” Stines, 43, is charged with first-degree murder for allegedly shooting and killing 54-year-old District Judge Kevin Mullins in the Letcher County Courthouse on September 19. After the shooting that killed the person, Stines quit his job.
At an early hearing last month, new information about the case came to light. Stines’ lawyer, Jeremy Bartley, said that Stines was having a “extreme emotional disturbance” and that there wasn’t enough proof to support the murder charge.
“I think they’ve established probable cause for manslaughter first, but not murder,” he said.
He said that Stines was having a “extreme emotional disturbance” at the time of the shooting and that it wasn’t planned.
Bartley told PEOPLE, “It wasn’t planned and happened out of the depths of my anger.” “For us, the highest level of culpability should be manslaughter based on the partial defense of extreme emotional disturbance.”
Chief Regional Judge Rupert Wilhoit decided that there was enough evidence to send the case to a grand jury, even though Bartley didn’t agree.
At the beginning of the hearing, more information about what happened before the shooting came out.
Detective Clayton Stamper of the Kentucky State Police said that Stines and Mullins went to lunch with other people on September 19 earlier that same day.
“I was told Judge asked Mickey, ‘Do we need to meet privately in my chambers?'” “That’s all they told me,” Stamper said.
Stamper said that police told him Stines tried to call his daughter from inside Mullins’ chambers before the shooting. After that, he used Mullins’ phone to try to call her again.
According to Stamper, Stines told police, “They’re trying to kidnap my wife and kid,” as he was being arrested.
There was surveillance video of the shooting shown in court. Mullins was hiding under his desk while Stines fired several shots, which can be seen on the video. After that, Stines got closer to the judge and shot him twice from close range. He then left the chambers.
Bartley and Commonwealth Attorney Jackie Steele were asked by Newsweek when Stines’ next court date was.
Stines took a deposition in a lawsuit three days before the shooting. He is a defendant in that case. In the 2022 lawsuit, it is said that Stines did not properly train one of his deputies.
Sabra Adkins, the woman who filed the lawsuit, says that Deputy Ben Fields forced her to do sexual things she didn’t want to do in Mullins’ chamber.
There is no evidence in the lawsuit that Mullins knew about what is being claimed to have happened.
The lawyer for the plaintiff, Ned Pillersdorf, told PEOPLE that Stines was acting “weird” during the deposition.
“My experience in Kentucky court, if you file a civil rights suit against a sheriff, they’re usually gregarious and talkative, he was none of those: subdued, tense, evasive, most unfriendly,” Pillersdorf told the news site. “I did believe he was having an emotional problem. And then this crazy shooting happened three days later. Is there a link? “Who knows?”
The first time Stines was elected as sheriff was in 2018, and the second time was in 2022.
He had been a bailiff at the Letcher County District Court before that.
Bill Jones was sworn in as sheriff of Letcher County after Stines retired.
Who is District Judge Kevin Mullins?
It was his job to be a judge in the 47th Judicial District. He was put in charge by former Gov. Steve Beshear in 2009 and then elected the next year.
At Mullins’ funeral in September, hundreds of people came to honor him.
“His magic touch was his love for people.” Judge Debra Lambert of the state Supreme Court said, “He can’t even begin to count the number of lives he saved or made better.” “Our court family aches at his loss.”
Lisa Lambert and Mullins were both on the state Judicial Commission on Mental Health.
His death notice said that Mullins had an impact on more than 20,000 people by creating “a local protocol focused on linking people to treatment services early in their involvement with the justice system, leading a transformative shift in how justice could support recovery.”
