A former Kentucky sheriff faces the death penalty after being charged with the murder of a judge shot dead in his courtroom two months ago.
Shawn ‘Mickey’ Stines was indicted on one count of murder of a public official by a Letcher County grand jury in a murder that shocked the small Appalachian community.
Stines was the sheriff of the southeastern Kentucky county when authorities say he entered District Judge Kevin Mullins’ office in Whitesburg, spoke with the judge and then opened fire eight times, killing him on Sept. 19.
Mullins, 54, who served as judge for 15 years, died at the scene and Stines surrendered without incident.
Stines has pleaded not guilty to murder and is being held in another county jail in Kentucky.
Stines, 43, resigned 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.
Police have not given a motive for the shooting involving two prominent members of the county bordering Virginia. Whitesburg is 150 miles southeast of Lexington, Kentucky.
Defense lawyer Jeremy Bartley had previously called the murder a crime of passion carried out while his client was experiencing “extreme emotional disturbance.”
Sheriff Shawn ‘Mickey’ Stines, 43, faces the death penalty after being accused of firing eight bullets at his close friend, District Judge Kevin Mullins, inside his office.
Stines’ lawyers claim the sheriff acted “in the heat of passion” and that the murder was not planned.
Authorities also suggested the murder was being investigated as a possible sex scandal, but have so far provided no further details.
A video showing the judge being shot to death was played at a court hearing last month.
The video, without audio, showed a man identified by police as Stines pulling out a gun and shooting the judge as he sat at his desk.
The man walked around the desk, pointed the gun at the judge, who had fallen to the floor, and fired again. Some people in the gallery sobbed as the video played.
Mullins died from multiple gunshot wounds, a Kentucky State Police detective said at the hearing.
The detective testified that Stines tried to call his daughter whose number was saved in Mullins’ phone just before the shooting.
After turning himself in, Stines told police, “They’re trying to kidnap my wife and my son.”
Stines is accused of fatally shooting Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, after entering the judge’s courtroom at the Lechter County Courthouse on Sept. 19.
The judge can be seen trying to take cover behind his desk as Stines points his gun at him.
The video shows Stines pointing his gun at Mullins as he hid under his desk.
The shooting is believed to have unfolded after Stines discovered his daughter’s phone number in Mullins’ phone.
Stines and Mullins had worked together on drug policy in the rural Kentucky county that has been hit hard by the opioid epidemic.
Stines pleaded not guilty to the murder, which shocked the small town of Whitesburg.
Investigators did not find any weapons on Mullins or in his room, the detective said.
Police allege that Stines entered the judge’s outer office, told court employees he needed to speak with Mullins alone, and then proceeded to shoot him once they entered the inner office.
Stines then emerged with his hands raised and surrendered to the officers, who handcuffed him. He is said to have told officers to “treat me fairly” when they arrested him.
As DailyMail.com reported exclusively in September, just hours before the shooting, the sheriff and the judge, who were longtime friends, shared an outdoor table at the popular Streetside Grill & Bar on Main Street for lunch, a just a few hundred meters from the courthouse.
The couple were lunchtime regulars at the sports bar and on that fateful Thursday they ordered the usual: They both had wings and salad for $13.99.
Stines’ defense team said they left the hearing with more questions than answers and said they were conducting their own “parallel investigation.”
Stines will be arraigned on Monday.