Sheriff allegedly killed judge who was a long-time friend

Residents of a small Appalachian town struggled Friday to cope with a shooting involving two of their most prominent citizens: a judge who was gunned down in his courtroom and a local sheriff charged with killing him. “It's just so sad. I just hate it,” said Mike Watts, the clerk of the Letcher County Circuit Court, according to the AP. “They're both friends of mine. I've worked with both of them for years.” It was not clear what led to the shooting. The preliminary investigation indicates that Letcher County Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines shot District Judge Kevin Mullins multiple times after an argument in the courthouse, according to Kentucky State Police. Mullins, 54, who was a judge for 15 years, died at the scene, and Stines, 43, turned himself in without incident. He was charged with first-degree murder.

The fatal shooting shocked the close-knit town of Whitesburg, the county seat about 145 miles southeast of Lexington. Stines was deposed Monday in a lawsuit filed by two women, one of whom claimed a deputy forced her to have sex in Mullins' room for six months so she would not go to jail. The lawsuit accuses the sheriff of “deliberate indifference by failing to adequately train and supervise the deputy.” Former deputy Ben Fields pleaded guilty to raping the female prisoner while she was on house arrest. Fields was sentenced this year to six months in prison and then six and a half years probation for rape, sodomy, perjury and tampering with a prisoner monitoring device, according to the Mountain EagleThree charges related to a second woman were dropped because she is now dead.

Those who know both the sheriff and the judge had nothing but praise for them, recalling how Mullins helped people with substance abuse disorders get treatment and how Stines led efforts to combat the opioid crisis. They worked together for years and were friends. Watts said he saw Mullins and Stines together just before noon on Thursday — about three hours before the shooting. Mullins and Stines were getting ready to go to lunch together, Watts said. It seemed like a normal interaction, except that Stines seemed calmer than usual. Watts thought the pair had a good working relationship and knew nothing that might have sparked the violent altercation. “We will fully investigate and seek justice,” Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said on social media. The Letcher County Courthouse was closed Friday. More here.

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