Kentucky sheriff pleads not guilty in fatal shooting of judge in his chambers

By Andy Rose and Emma Tucker, CNN

(CNN) — The Kentucky sheriff accused of first-degree murder in the death of a district court judge entered a not guilty plea Wednesday during his first court appearance since the killing that shocked the small community of Letcher County.

Shawn “Mickey” Stines, 43, remains jailed without bond after the arraignment, which was held remotely in a courtroom in Carter County, 100 miles away from the courthouse where Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, was shot to death six days earlier.

Prosecutors did not present evidence during the arraignment, leaving a possible motive for the killing a mystery. Stines appeared remotely from the Leslie County Detention Center.

Stines also did not comment on the charges during the hearing, but Judge Rupert Wilhoit asked him about his finances after Stines confirmed he wanted a court-appointed attorney.

The judge expressed skepticism about whether Stines, who said he owns two homes and earns $115,000 as sheriff, was truly indigent.

“Sir, it’s my understanding that he is in the process of losing his job as sheriff of Letcher County, obviously, and will not have income going forward,” public defender Josh Miller told the judge.

A preliminary hearing to present evidence in the case was scheduled for October 1 in Morgan County, another courtroom far from the crime scene.

What transpired in the judge’s chambers moments before the fatal shooting that afternoon is still being investigated, authorities said. Other people were in the building when the judge was shot but no one else was inside his chambers, Kentucky State Police Trooper Matt Gayheart has said.

Stines’ job made him responsible for security at county courthouses, including the personal security of judges, according to the Kentucky Sheriff’s Association. He’s now facing a first-degree murder charge, and it’s unclear who will take his place as sheriff.

Cameras were inside the building, and all witnesses will be interviewed, said Gayheart, who stressed this is the first time a tragedy “of this magnitude” has afflicted the county.

Stines and Mullins ate lunch together hours before the shooting, Circuit Court Clerk Mike Watts told CNN affiliate WKYT.

“The whole county is just devastated by this,” Watts told WKYT, nodding to the void left in the local justice system. “We’ve not only lost our sheriff and district judge, but I’ve lost two personal friends that I worked with daily.”

Just days before the shooting, on September 16, Stines was deposed in an ongoing federal lawsuit involving a former deputy who coerced a woman to have sex with him in 2021, CNN previously reported.

The lawsuit alleges the sexual allegations against the deputy “were not appropriately 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 he did not have the authority to speak on Stines’ personal behalf in the federal suit or the murder case.

An act of violence between 2 men ‘I loved like brothers,’ county attorney says

Many residents knew the two prominent figures in the community, and friends of both the sheriff and judge said they were stunned by the killing and struggling to understand why it had happened.

The quiet, seemingly routine day in court turned chaotic when police received a 911 call just before 3 p.m. Thursday reporting shots fired from inside the courthouse building, state police said.

Hearing reports of an active shooter in the courthouse, court security officer Wallace Kincer and Watts, the circuit court clerk, leapt into action, leading attorneys and court staff away from unknown danger that lurked in the chambers, according to Matt Butler, commonwealth’s attorney for Letcher County.

Fear rippled through the county as students in Letcher County Public Schools were placed on lockdown shortly before 3:30 p.m.

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

Butler recused himself and his office from the sheriff’s prosecution because he and the judge married two sisters and their children act more like siblings than cousins, he said in a statement last week. “Our community has suffered an act of violence that appears to be between two men that I have worked with for seventeen years and loved like brothers,” Butler said in a social media post.

Some residents, including Butler, are calling for more adequate security protocols in the courthouse, such as installing a metal detector and adding security at the entrance.

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

Mullins is survived by his wife and two daughters, his obituary states. “He died in his chambers of the courthouse where he spent his career working to help people,” the obituary said.

CNN’s Dalia Faheid and Dakin Andone contributed to this report.

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