Posted on 03/24/2025 10:24:48 AM PDT by V_TWIN
LETCHER COUNTY, Ky. (WZTV) — A former Kentucky sheriff accused of murdering a judge inside his courthouse chambers is planning to use an insanity defense in his trial, Fox News Digital reports.
Former Letcher County Sheriff Shawn "Mickey" Stines is accused of fatally shooting District Judge Kevin Mullins. A new court filing, reported by Fox News, says Stines now plans to plead insanity.
courthouse
Stines is accused of shooting Mullins in the judge's chambers last September. Authorities said the two had been friends for two decades.
Stines was indicted on one count of murder of a public official and pleaded not guilty in November.
His daughter showed up on the Judges phone. Judge was banging chicks left and right to stave off jail, and so were the deputies.
After the shooting, Stines surrendered to authorities without incident and reportedly said, “They’re trying to kidnap my wife and kid.”
But other reports say the wife left him and took the daughter because he was behaving erratically.
sounds like a justified kill imo.
I hope court tv covers this.... it’s gonna be a very interesting case.
The Judge had it coming but the Sheriff should have known better than to shoot him on video. One of those everybody loses case.
“The Judge had it coming...”
Well, that’s what trials are for my friend....right now none of us know everything that lead up to the shooting.
Even if what’s being suggested about the judge and the sheriff’s daughter is accurate I seriously doubt he’s going to avoid prison.....it’s just gonna be a matter of how long.
As I’ve followed the case, it centers on the deputy serving as the judge’s bailiff who was convicted of sexual assault and misconduct with a female prisoner IN the judge’s chambers.
Depositions were being taken in a civil trial suing the sheriff for damages as a result of the criminal convictions.
I had to wonder if the Sheriff felt he was taking all the heat for the deputy’s misconduct as he was on his payroll although in a judge/bailiff situation, it could be argued that the judge was more of his immediate supervisor than the sheriff.
The judge should have known and be held responsible for what his bailiff was doing in his chambers.
Was the judge contacting family members to pressure and even threaten them to convince the sheriff to take all the heat and leave the judge out of it.
That is just pure speculation at this point.
The civil suit would have definitely been stressful and there may have been a lot of dirty dealings going on beyond what the deputy did.
The insanity defense or extreme emotional distress could be made on those grounds.
It’s a very small town, and it’s hard to believe that there was anything going on in that courthouse that was known by a lot of folk.
Evidently this female prisoner had the courage to take on the courthouse crowd and was fortunate to find the authorities to bring her some measure of justice.
There is lot of back story here and I find it hard to believe the judge was a complete innocent, particularly now that we are seeing how the judicial branch is populated with a lot of corrupt power-hungry scumbags.
The judge was running a blackmail sex operation in the courthouse along with the deputies.
Women get arrested they would have to give it up to get out of jail. The Sheriff happened to see that his daughter was caught up in the scheme.
He’s guilty, no doubt about it and the motives are undisputed.
Good grief....what a mess. SMH
He shouldn’t a done it, but I understand. 😏
Bad judge?
Corrupt judge.
Agree
Pretty sure court tv will cover it.
The Murdaugh murder trial and the Johnny Depp Amber Heard cases were really interesting.
following high profile court cases is one of my guilty pleasures since retiring.
I fear that, if things continue the way they are, more and more people will feel less and less sympathy for any rogue judge who ends up being the victim of, uh, non-judicial punishment.
I sure wish our government would clean up its own mess, and hold these oath-breakers (not only judges) accountable, but we are seeing in real time that they will not. They worship money and power and will have none of us little people asserting our rights if it gets in the way of them worshiping at the feet of their false god...
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