A judge is killed, the sheriff charged — and a small town in Kentucky is shaken to its core

By Dalia Faheid, CNN

(CNN) — A small, tight-knit southeast Kentucky community has been reeling after their sheriff was arrested for the killing of a prominent district judge in his chambers Thursday – spurring residents to wonder what could have triggered the shooting and prompting calls for better courthouse security.

Letcher County Sheriff Shawn M. Stines, 43 – a man whose role made him responsible for judges’ personal security – gunned down District Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, at the Letcher County courthouse in Whitesburg, according to Kentucky State Police.

Stines turned himself in after the shooting and was arrested at the scene without incident, authorities said. He is now facing a first-degree murder charge, state police said.

The killing sent shockwaves through the tiny town of Whitesburg – with a population of 1,711 people.

“This community is small in nature, and we’re all shook,” Kentucky State Police Trooper Matt Gayheart said at a Thursday evening news conference.

It all happened after an argument between the two men inside the judge’s chambers on Thursday afternoon, a preliminary investigation revealed.

A quiet day in court turned chaotic when just before 3 p.m. Thursday, police received a 911 call “in reference to shots being fired from inside the building,” Gayheart said.

Hearing reports of an active shooter in the courthouse, court security officer Wallace Kincer and Circuit Court Clerk Mike Watts 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 rattled through the county as students in Letcher County Public Schools were placed on lockdown shortly before 3:30 p.m.

“After a call from Kentucky State Police, LCC was ordered to go into a mandatory lockdown because of an active shooting in downtown. Your children are safe,” a message to parents read.

The court was left without its district judge of 15 years after Mullins was found with multiple gunshot wounds and pronounced dead, Kentucky State Police said.

Letcher County was also left without its sheriff of eight years after Stines was arrested at the courthouse on Thursday, and it’s unclear who will take his place, authorities said. He is being jailed in Leslie County and his first court appearance is scheduled for September 25 before a judge in Carter County, said Jackie Steele, the Commonwealth’s Attorney assigned to the case. CNN is trying to determine whether Stines has an attorney.

As residents wait for details about the argument that led up to the shots, the motive remains under investigation, Gayheart said, adding the incident was “isolated.” But this is the first time a tragedy “of this magnitude” has afflicted the county, he said.

Ben Gish, the editor of Mountain Eagle, a local weekly newspaper, told CNN “none of us could imagine anything like this happening in this day and time.”

“I can’t imagine the scar this will leave on our community,” Gish said.

While the shooting sent some residents looking for answers, it prompted some to advocate for more adequate safety protocols at the Letcher County Courthouse, including 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 Matt Butler, commonwealth’s attorney for Letcher County, in a video statement Friday. “This is unacceptable in 2024. It was unacceptable when I started in 2007.”

Sheriff and judge were prominent figures in the small town

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.

Circuit Clerk Mike Watts said Mullins and Stines had lunch on the day of the shooting.

“The judge and Sheriff had ate lunch together … I saw them earlier,” Watts said in an interview with CNN affiliate WKYT.

“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.

Butler recused himself and his office from the sheriff’s prosecution due to family ties, saying he and the judge had married two sisters and that their children act more like siblings than cousins. Butler added that he had a “close professional relationship” with both Mullins and Stines, he said in his video statement.

In Letcher County, “we all know each other,” Butler said.

“If you knew Letcher County, you would know that families stay tightly connected at all times and pull even more tightly together during times of unspeakable tragedy like today,” he said.

The community not only lost its sheriff and district judge, but he’s lost two friends he worked with daily, Mike Watts, the circuit court clerk, told CNN affiliate WKYT.

“It’s just unimaginable. I don’t know what happened. Or what the reason was,” Watts said. “I know Kentucky State Police are investigating it, and I feel confident that they will hopefully provide some answers on why. Maybe that will be able to help us all heal. The entire community, we’re all just in shock.”

In Kentucky, sheriffs are responsible for security at courthouses – including the personal security of judges – according to Jerry Wagner, a retired sheriff who is now the executive director of the Kentucky Sheriff’s Association.

“We have 120 sheriffs that work on a daily basis with our judges. We work more closely with them than any other elected officials,” Wagner told CNN Friday.

“No one saw this coming,” Wagner added. “I don’t know how you prepare for this.”

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear on Friday morning commented on social media speculation about what motivated the deadly shooting.

“I know that there’s a whole lot that’s out there on the internet and elsewhere. This is an active ongoing investigation,” he said during a press conference for another matter.

“The whole county is just devastated by this,” Watts said, speaking with WKYT. “We’ve not only lost our sheriff and district judge, but I’ve lost two personal friends that I worked with daily.”

Sheriff deposed in lawsuit days before shooting

Earlier this week, Stines was deposed in an ongoing federal lawsuit involving a former deputy who coerced a woman to have sex with him in Mullins’ chambers in 2021.

Sabrina Adkins and Jennifer Hill filed the suit against Stines and deputy Ben Fields in 2022, claiming the deputy said he would keep Adkins out of jail and on home release, while avoiding paying the fees associated with an ankle monitor, in exchange for sex.

Fields was charged with multiple felonies and a misdemeanor – including rape and tampering with a monitoring device – and was given a suspended jail sentence as part of a plea deal earlier this year, according to the Mountain Eagle newspaper.

Hill has since died and criminal charges against Fields related to her were dropped, but her estate is continuing to pursue the lawsuit against Field and Stines, court records show.

The lawsuit alleges the sexual allegations against Fields “were not appropriately investigated by Sheriff Stines.”

Stines fired Fields in 2022, after the lawsuit was filed, for “conduct unbecoming,” according to a disciplinary letter obtained by the Louisville Courier-Journal newspaper.

In a response filed to the lawsuit, defense attorneys wrote “Mickey Stines, at all times acted in good faith and exercised reasonable care and skill in effectuating his duties as required by law.”

Stines was deposed in the case on Monday, plaintiffs’ and defendants’ attorneys both confirmed to CNN.

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.

“This is a sad day for our legal community, and I hope that in time we will have a clearer understanding of the circumstances that led to Judge Mullins’ death,” Shaw said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the judge’s family and the families of all involved.”

Search for answers about what transpired in the judge’s chambers

An investigation into how the fatal shooting unfolded – and what the argument between the two men was about – is underway, state police said Thursday.

“We know that it was an argument between the two that led up – but what exactly transpired prior to the shots being fired, those are still things that we’re trying to get answers to,” Gayheart said.

There are cameras inside the building and all witnesses will be interviewed, he said. While other people were in the building when Mullins was shot, no one else was inside the judge’s chambers, according to authorities.

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman indicated Thursday his office will work with commonwealth’s attorney Steele as special prosecutors on the case.

“We will fully investigate and pursue justice,” Coleman said.

Mullins’ body will be sent to the medical examiner’s office at the state capital in Frankfort, according to Gayheart.

In remembrance of Mullins, flags at all Kentucky Court of Justice facilities will be lowered to half-staff through Monday. Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice Laurance B. VanMeter said he was “shocked” by Mullins’ killing and the court system was left “shaken.”

As a result of the shooting, circuit and district courts, as well as the office of the circuit court clerk, will be closed until operations can resume, the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts said Thursday. Once the courts reopen, a retired judge will temporarily take over district court cases until a Judicial Nominating Commission selects Mullins’ replacement, spokesperson Jim Hannah told CNN Friday.

The killing came less than two weeks after southeast Kentucky was rocked by a shooting at an interstate that wounded five people in Laurel County. And just four days ago, a Russell County deputy was killed in the line of duty, officials said.

A funeral for Mullins is scheduled for Sunday at 3 p. m. ET in the gymnasium at Jenkins High School in Jenkins, Kentucky, according to Hall and Jones Funeral Home.

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CNN’s Zoe Sottile, Cindy Von Quednow, Artemis Moshtaghian, Andy Rose and Jamiel Lynch contributed to this report.