Shawn Stines: Kentucky sheriff accused of shooting judge to appear in court today

CNN
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The Kentucky sheriff who authorities say shot and killed a prominent county judge in his office last week after an argument broke out between the two men is scheduled to go on trial in the case on Wednesday, a hearing that will take place away from the close-knit community deeply shaken by the death.

Letcher County Sheriff Shawn M. Stines, 43, was arrested Thursday in Whitesburg District Court on charges of shooting 54-year-old District Judge Kevin Mullins.

Stines, who authorities said turned himself in after the shooting, is scheduled to appear for arraignment Wednesday. The arraignment will be made via video from the Leslie County Jail – where he is being held, a few counties west of where he was sheriff and where the judge was killed.

Normally, the hearing would take place in Mullins' own courtroom, which remains closed this week because of the murder. Instead, the arraignment will be conducted by a judge in a Carter County courthouse about 100 miles from the crime scene, court officials said.

According to the Kentucky Sheriff's Association, Stines' job included security in county courts, including personal protection for judges. He now faces a charge of first-degree murder, and it is unclear who will take his place as sheriff.

Authorities said what happened in the judge's chambers shortly before the fatal shooting in the afternoon was still under investigation. There were other people in the building when the judge was shot, but no one else was in his office, said Kentucky State Police trooper Matt Gayheart.

Cameras have been installed in the building and all witnesses are being interviewed, Gayheart said, stressing that this is the first time the county has been hit by a tragedy “of this magnitude.”

Stines and Mullins had lunch together hours before the shooting, court clerk Mike Watts told CNN affiliate WKYT.

“The entire county is devastated,” Watts told WKYT, noting the void left by the local justice system. “Not only did we lose our sheriff and our county judge, but I also lost two personal friends that I worked with on a daily basis.”

Just days before the shooting, on Sept. 16, Stines was deposed in an ongoing federal case against a former deputy sheriff who forced a woman to have sex with him in 2021, CNN previously reported.

The lawsuit alleges that the sexual allegations against the deputy were “not adequately investigated by Sheriff Stines,” who fired the deputy in 2022.

Jonathan Shaw, the attorney representing Stines in his official capacity in the lawsuit, told CNN in an email that he was not authorized to speak on Stines' personal behalf in the federal lawsuit or the murder trial.

Many residents knew the two prominent figures in the community, and friends of the sheriff and judge said they were shocked by the murder and could not understand why it had happened.

The calm, seemingly routine day in court turned into chaos when police received a 911 call shortly before 3 p.m. Thursday reporting gunshots coming from the courthouse, state police said.

When reports of a shooting emerged in the courthouse, security officer Wallace Kincer and District Court Clerk Watts immediately stepped in and escorted attorneys and court employees away from the unknown threat lurking in the courtroom, said Letcher County Prosecutor Matt Butler.

Fear spread across the county when Letcher County Public Schools students were quarantined shortly before 3:30 p.m.

Mullins was found with numerous gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Butler has recuse himself and his office from the sheriff's prosecution because he and the judge married two sisters and their children behave more like siblings than cousins, he said in a statement last week.

“Our community has suffered from an act of violence that appears to have taken place between two men I worked with for seventeen years and loved as brothers,” Butler said in a social media post.

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman's office will work with Jackie Steele, the state attorney in charge of the case, as a special prosecutor in the case, he said.

Some residents, including Butler, are calling for more appropriate security measures at the courthouse, such as installing a metal detector and additional security guards at the entrance.

“The Letcher County Courthouse is one of the last places you can enter without a metal detector or security guards at the front door,” said Butler, who called it “unacceptable.”

Mullins leaves behind his wife and two daughters, his obituary states. “He died in his office in the courthouse, where he spent his entire professional life helping people,” the obituary states.

A “passionate advocate for recovery efforts across Kentucky,” Mullins worked to combat the opioid epidemic by providing access to treatment and helping people suffering from substance abuse, mental illness and disabilities, his obituary said.

CNN's Andy Rose, Dalia Faheid and Dakin Andone contributed to this report.