Judge in Casey Anthony case warns: Murder of justice of the peace in Kentucky raises new reality

The fatal shooting of District Judge Kevin Mullins in his own office in Eastern Kentucky underscores the escalation of violence against the judiciary – since 2019, threats of violence against judges have more than doubled, according to a lawyers' group.

Letcher County Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines is accused of shooting 54-year-old Mullins multiple times after an argument at the courthouse. Mullins died at the scene and Stines was charged with first-degree murder.

According to the American Bar Association, the number of credible threats of violence against judges has jumped from 175 cases in 2019 to 500 in 2023.

“Judges are facing increasing threats – violence is the rule rather than the exception when defendants are unhappy with verdicts. Most jurisdictions are unprepared to deal with these increasing threats,” said Belvin Perry, former chief judge of Florida's Ninth Judicial Circuit, who received a number of death threats during his tenure in the Casey Anthony trial and throughout his career.

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“The security of every court will inspect your home to make sure it is safe. They will tell you that you need to make arrangements for your family in case something happens. These are the actual realities that judges have to live with every day,” Perry said.

“At times my house was under 24-hour security due to death threats. I kept a well-trained German Shepherd at home so he could be with my family when I was not home. My wife had to take shooting classes.”

Left: Judge Belvin Perry enters the courtroom, with Casey Anthony in the foreground, during her murder trial at the Orange County Courthouse in Orlando, Fla., Thursday, June 16, 2011. Top right: Letcher County Sheriff Shawn Stines. Bottom right: The Letcher County Courthouse. (Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images; Leslie County Detention Center via AP; Google Maps)

Three days before Mullins was shot, Stines testified in a lawsuit filed by two women. The lawsuit accuses the sheriff of “deliberate indifference by failing to adequately train and supervise Deputy Ben Fields.” Fields pleaded guilty to raping a prisoner while she was on house arrest.

The women claim that Fields repeatedly sexually abused a woman at Mullins' office.

It's not clear whether the dispute that preceded the shooting was related to the lawsuit. But if so, it wouldn't be the first time a judge has been attacked over a case.

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Last year, Maryland District Court Judge Andrew Wilkerson was killed in the driveway of his home after issuing a ruling in a custody dispute.

New Jersey federal judge Esther Salas founded the Daniel Anderl Protection Project after her 20-year-old son was shot and killed in a racially motivated attack aimed at her in 2020. The gunman, disguised as a delivery driver, killed Daniel Anderl and seriously injured Salas' husband, Mark Anderl.

“In my opinion, every state and territory in the United States should have laws to protect judges and laws that target the security of the judiciary,” Esther Salas previously told Fox News Digital. “There are a handful of states like New Jersey that have directly addressed the security of the judiciary, and I hope and pray that states will follow New Jersey's lead, follow the federal legislation and enact and pass their own laws that directly target the judiciary.”

In June, the U.S. Senate passed the Counter Threats and Attacks on Our Judges Act on a bipartisan basis, which would provide federal funding for the security of judges at the state and local level.

“Unfortunately, increasing polarization and partisanship have coincided with an increase in threats and attacks on judicial panels that threaten the independence of our judicial system,” Senator Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat and one of the bill's sponsors, said in a statement.

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New Jersey federal judge Esther Salas lost her 20-year-old son in 2020 after he was fatally shot in a racially motivated attack on Salas. (Fox News)

Perry told Fox News Digital that while violence against the judiciary is increasing, it is not a new phenomenon.

In 1984, Perry narrowly escaped a gunman who opened fire in the Orange County Courthouse in Florida.

The gunman, Thomas Provenzano, shot and killed 60-year-old Deputy Sheriff William Arnold Wilkerson and left Deputy Sheriff Harry Dalton with brain damage and injuries that led to his untimely death several years later. Officer Mark Lindsey Parker was left permanently paralyzed.

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Provenzano had been charged with disturbing the peace five months earlier and had planned to shoot the police officer who charged him, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page. He was executed in the electric chair in June 2020.

Perry said he happened to step out of the hallway where Provenzano opened fire, just before shots were fired.

“Unfortunately, we see that violence has become a pervasive factor in the lives of judges,” Perry said.

Combating the problem is the “million dollar question,” he said, but improved security in courthouses would help.

“It's tragic that the judge in Kentucky was killed even though there was a security system in place – the sheriff was responsible for security,” Perry said.