Former Kentucky Sheriff Sean “Mickey” Stines was charged Thursday with shooting and killing a judge.
A Letcher County grand jury indicted Stines on Thursday on one count of murder of a public servant, according to a press release from Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman's office. His arraignment is scheduled for noon Nov. 25, according to online court records.
Stines, 43, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder after authorities say he shot his longtime colleague, District Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, multiple times on September 19. Ta.
Kentucky sheriff charged with murdering judge, not planning murder, arrested in 'heat of passion': lawyer
Former Letcher County Sheriff Sean “Mickey” Stines (right) is seen pointing a gun at District Court Judge Kevin Mullins. (Letcher County handout)
Stines pleaded not guilty on September 25th. He officially resigned as sheriff in late September after receiving a letter from Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and Kentucky General Counsel S. Travis Mayo. He is being held in the Leslie County Jail, two counties away, police said.
The former sheriff's motive for pulling the trigger is still unclear.
Clayton Stamper testified at the preliminary hearing that the two men had eaten lunch with the group several hours before the shooting, according to a Kentucky State Police report. Louisville Courier Journal.
Stamper said Stein called her daughter on her phone and then tried to call her on Mullins' phone.
“Detectives have seized two cell phones and are currently analyzing them,” Kentucky State Police Officer Matt Gayhart previously said. daily mail.
Kentucky sheriff charged with fatally shooting judge in rape-related case days earlier
Officials say District Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, left, was killed in the judge's chambers by Letcher County Sheriff Sean M. Stines, 43. (Kentucky State Court, Letcher County Sheriff's Office)
“I heard the judge say to Mickey, 'Do we need to meet privately in a private room?'” Stamper testified. Associated Press reported.
Asked if Stines was, Stamper said, “Maybe, but I don't really know.” Motive for shooting Mullins Based on what he saw on the judge's phone.
“I talked to him and he didn't say anything about why this happened,” Stamper said, according to the Associated Press. “But he was calm… basically all he said was, 'Please treat me fairly.'”
New video shows Kentucky sheriff pointing gun at judge before alleged shooting
Former Letcher County, Kentucky, Sheriff Sean “Mickey” Stines wipes his eyes while listening to testimony during his arraignment at the Morgan County Courthouse on Tuesday, October 1, 2024 in West Liberty, Kentucky. Stines is accused in the shooting death of Kentucky District Judge Kevin Mullins. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
When Stines was taken into custody, Stines told another officer, “They're trying to kidnap my wife and child,” Stamper said.
Days earlier, Mr. Stines was removed from office following a lawsuit brought by two women, one of whom alleged that a deputy forced her to perform sex acts in the same judge's chambers where the shooting took place. The woman alleged that the deputy repeatedly sexually assaulted her over a six-month period in exchange for not going to jail.
The suit accuses the sheriff of “deliberate indifference and failure to properly train and supervise officers.”
Letcher County Sheriff Sean M. Stein is seen in this Friday, September 20, 2024, booking photo provided by the Leslie County Detention Center in Kentucky. (Leslie County Detention Center, via AP)
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Stynes' attorney Jeremy Bartley said: told the people He said the shooting was “not premeditated and not a fit of passion.”
“For us, the highest level of guilt should be manslaughter based on the partial defense of extreme mental disorder,” Bartley said.
The Whitesburg shooting shook the community of Letcher County, Kentucky, where Stein served as bailiff of the Mullins courthouse before becoming sheriff in 2018.
“We are all shocked by this,” Mullins' friend and former Jenkins Mayor Garnard Kinser Jr. told People magazine. “It effectively left us immobile. I can't believe that happened.”
