Video showing a Kentucky judge got shot A court hearing for a former sheriff accused of a murder that shocked an Appalachian community was held Tuesday in his chambers.
This short video clip was played by prosecutors during the preliminary hearing for former Letcher County Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines, who is accused of fatally killing District Judge Kevin Mullins on September 19. It was suggested. Steins reportedly entered Mullins’ room at the Letcher County Courthouse. in whitesburg And set it on firethe police say
Mullins (54), who had been a judge for 15 years, died at the scene, and Steins (43) surrendered safely. Stines resigned from his position as sheriff on Monday.
The soundless video showed a man, who police identified as Starnes sitting at a desk, pulling out a gun and shooting the judge. The man was seen walking around the desk, pointing the gun at the judge, who was lying on the floor, and then shooting again. Some people in the courtroom gallery sobbed as the video played, and Steins looked down.
Mullins died from multiple gunshot wounds, Kentucky State Police Detective Clayton Stamper testified Tuesday. steins pleaded not guilty to murder It was held in another Kentucky county last week.
Timothy D. Easley/AP
After the shooting, Steins reportedly killed Mullins after an argument, Kentucky State Police spokesman Matt Gayheart said. Police did not disclose the nature of the altercation.
“We know that an altercation between two individuals led to the incident, but we are still trying to get answers as to what exactly happened before the shots were fired,” Gayheart said at the time. He told reporters after the judge’s death that the shooting was an isolated incident.
Police have not given a motive for the shooting involving two prominent men from a county near the Virginia border, but Stines’ defense team first looked into what happened when Stines and Mullins met for lunch that day and immediately before the shooting.
Stamper, the lead police investigator on the case, said he reviewed video showing Mullins’ room just before the shooting. This portion was not played at the hearing.
When asked to describe what he saw, Stamper responded, “Sheriff Steines used his own phone to make the call. He then borrowed Judge Mullins’ cell phone and appeared to make the call.”
Stamper said he was told that Steines tried to call his daughter from his phone and the judge’s phone. He said police confirmed that Steines’ daughter’s phone number was on the judge’s phone number.
“Stines’ face was not shown in the video,” Stamper said of Stines’ reaction to seeing the judge’s cell phone. The judge’s cellphone was later found on his desk, and Steins’ cellphone was with him when he was arrested, Stamper said.
Investigators found nothing to suggest the shooting was planned, the detective testified.
“This happened after a phone call,” Stamper later said. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
When asked if the shooting was due to content recently discovered on the phone, Stamper responded, “That could be true, but I don’t know if that’s true.”
Both phones are being downloaded at the police forensics lab, he said.
Asked if he was aware of any previous problems, personal or professional, between the former sheriff and the judge, Stamper said he had “heard” about the lawsuit involving the sheriff’s office.
Timothy D. Easley/AP
Steins was removed from office following a lawsuit filed by two women, one of whom claimed the sheriff forced her to have sex in Mullins’ room for six months in exchange for staying out of jail. The lawsuit accuses the now former sheriff of “deliberate indifference to properly train and supervise” the sheriff’s department.
Now former deputy sheriff Ben Fields has pleaded guilty to raping a female inmate while she was incarcerated in the home. He was sentenced this year to six months in prison followed by six years and six months probation for rape, sodomy, perjury and tampering with an inmate monitoring device, the Mountain Eagle reported. Three additional charges involving the second woman were dismissed due to her death.
Stines fired Fields, who had been Mullins’ executor, for “inappropriate conduct” after the lawsuit was filed in 2022, The Courier Journal reported at the time.
Other details about the events surrounding the judge’s shooting death emerged during the hearing.
Police investigators found no weapons on Mullins or in his room, Stamper said.
On the day of the shooting, Mullins and Steins met for lunch with several other people at a restaurant near the Whitesburg courthouse, the detective said.
“I heard the judge made a statement to Mickey about ‘should we meet privately in my room,’” Stamper said, adding that he didn’t know what that was.
A small group of people were in a room next to Mullins’ room when shots rang out. Stamper said Steines was in custody when he arrived at the courthouse.
“I thought he was generally calm,” Stamper said. “I spoke to him and he didn’t say anything about why this happened. But he was calm. … Basically all he said was, ‘Treat me fair.’
Timothy D. Easley/AP
After the hearing, Judge Rupert Wilhoit III ruled that there was probable cause to believe that Stines committed a crime and moved the case to a grand jury to decide whether to indict Stines.
Steines’ attorneys left the hearing with more questions than answers and said they were conducting their own “parallel investigation” into the case.
If convicted of murder, Stines could face a sentence of 20 years to life in prison. He is accused of killing a public official and could face the death penalty.
