Mystery surrounding alleged murder of judge by sheriff in small Kentucky town | Kentucky

A small Kentucky town is still reeling after a longtime sheriff was accused of shooting a judge in the county courthouse on Sept. 19. It was an act of shocking violence that leaves many questions unanswered.

State police said Sheriff Shawn Stines, 43, killed District Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, after an argument in the judge's chambers. Stines turned himself in, was arrested at the scene and now faces a charge of first-degree murder.

The motive for the shooting remains unclear, and people in the town of Whiteburg, population 1,711, are wondering what happened between the two elected officials.

“The community is small and we are all devastated,” said Kentucky State Police Trooper Matt Gayheart at a press conference after the shooting on the evening of September 19. “We know that it was an argument between the two that led to [to it] – but we are still trying to find answers to what exactly happened before the shooting.”

Several residents told news outlets that Stines was a well-liked longtime member of the community and wondered what led to the outbreak. Stines and Mullins were friends and worked together at the county courthouse for more than a decade.

Stines was recently removed from a federal investigation involving a former deputy sheriff who pleaded guilty to raping and assaulting a woman in the courthouse. Ben Fields, the former deputy, was sentenced to six months in prison and nearly seven years of probation as part of a settlement. Fields was released in 2022 while the charges played out in court.

The woman at the center of the case, as well as the estate of a second woman who made similar allegations against Field during her lifetime but has since died, sued Stines for failing to adequately investigate the allegations.

According to CNN, a defense attorney for Stines said in the proceedings that he “acted in good faith at all times and exercised reasonable care and skill in the performance of his duties as required by law.”

Sources told CNN that Stines testified in the case on September 16, three days before the shooting.

Mike Watts, a district court clerk, told local television station WKYT that the sheriff and the judge had lunch together immediately before the shooting. Police have not yet commented on what the argument was about that led to the shooting.

People close to Stines said the alleged shooting was out of character for him and were shocked by the accusation that he murdered Mullins.

“You couldn't find a better person on earth than Mickey Stines. I don't know what happened,” Patty Wood, the widow of the district judge who served before Mullins and was friends with Stines, told ABC News. “I know [Stines’s] character. And I know there had to be something that made him do it… I just can't believe he just went in and shot him for no reason.”

Bill and Josephine Richardson, a couple who have lived in the city for more than 50 years, told the Louisville Courier-Journal that Stines was well-liked in the community, and two people they spoke to said Stines was “not himself” in the week before the shooting.