Posted on 11/21/2024 6:03:28 PM PST by nickcarraway
A former Kentucky sheriff was indicted Thursday in the slaying of a judge who was gunned down in his courthouse chambers two months ago, shocking a tiny Appalachian community.
Shawn “Mickey” Stines was indicted on one count of murder of a public official by a Letcher County grand jury, prosecutors said. Stines was sheriff of the southeastern Kentucky county when authorities say he walked into District Judge Kevin Mullins’ chambers in Whitesburg, spoke with the judge and then opened fire on Sept. 19. Mullins, 54, who held the judgeship for 15 years, died at the scene, and Stines surrendered without incident. Stines pleaded not guilty to murder and has been held in another Kentucky county jail.
Stines, 43, stepped down as sheriff more than a week after the shooting and his replacement, Billy Jones, was sworn in on Oct. 1. Jones was a former resource officer at a high school in Letcher County.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
I guess Stines thought that judge deserved to die.
Word is that the judge was boinking the sheriff’s teen daughter.
“Detectives are probing a potential motive, but the shooting is thought to have unfolded after Stines discovered his daughter’s phone number in Mullins’ phone.”
Seriously?
One thing undoubtedly preying on the mind of Stines, who was the 54-year-old judge's bailiff before becoming sheriff in 2018, was a civil lawsuit against one of his deputies who was convicted and sentenced for rape.
The 43-year-old sheriff was accused of not properly training and supervising ex-deputy Ben Fields, who coerced a woman on home incarceration into sex for favors – ironically in Judge Mullins's chambers.
How did he have access to the judge’s phone.
Stines, 43, stepped down as sheriff more than a week after the shooting
It took him a week to resign? Why was he not fired the next day?
Yes, seriously.
Resigned probably so that wife would have his pension.
Supposedly they were at lunch and the judge left it on the table when he got up and hit the head.
Is this a case of a judge and an underage girl IIRC that was the original indication from the stuff I saw.
Sheriffs are an elected office in most states. There may be a process to remove them, but they can’t easily be fired.
That’ll do it.
If there’s any truth to that, I can’t condone the action, but I understand...
His young daughter’s number was reportedly on the judge’s phone. If that’s true, I think we can surmise a potential motive
Trivia from my youth: Back in the 20th century, the only person that could arrest a sheriff in Georgia was the county coroner.
Word is that the judge was boinking the sheriff’s teen daughter.
that would do it, but to the media this would be something left out especially if the judge was a rat appointee
The only time I wish for jury duty, is in a case like this. The good sheriff should be home for Christmas.
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