A grand jury has indicted a rural Kentucky sheriff on aggravated murder charges that could carry the death penalty for fatally shooting a longtime fellow judge in his chambers during a heated exchange.
Thursday's decision comes as Letcher County Sheriff Sean Stines, 43, allegedly pulled out a gun and pointed it at District Judge Kevin Mullins' head, then fired eight shots without mercy, captured on chilling surveillance footage. The decision was made more than two months after the decision was made.
Mullins, 54, died in the room where he had worked for 15 years.
Stines turned himself in shortly after the shooting and asked police to “treat him fairly,” but he is now charged with one count of murdering a public servant and could face the death penalty if convicted. There is sex.
The two, who have been friends for 30 years, had lunch together hours before Stines allegedly pulled out a gun inside the Letcher County Courthouse in Whitesburg on Sept. 19.
Disturbing footage showed Mullins, who was sitting behind a desk, raising his hands in fear and trying to look away just before Stines opened fire.
Disturbing footage shows Mullins hiding under a desk when a deputy approaches him and shoots him twice at close range, before allegedly leaving the jail. are.
Kentucky Detective Clayton Stamper testified last month that additional footage from the room, which has not been shown in court or released, shows the sheriff using his and Mullins' cellphones to tell their daughter what they were doing shortly before the cold-blooded killing. He was also seen making phone calls.
Stamper confirmed that police found Stein's daughter's phone number on the judge's cell phone.
“They're trying to kidnap my wife and child,” Stines told police after he surrendered.
The motive is still unclear, but defense lawyer Jeremy Bartley previously said the killing was a crime of passion, carried out because his client was experiencing “extreme mental turmoil”.
Authorities have also indicated that the murder is being investigated as a possible sex scandal, but have not yet released details.
Stines resigned less than two weeks after the shooting and has since been held in the Leslie County Jail.
The deputy who carried the gun is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday.
