Small town is rocked when its sheriff is jailed for the murder of a prominent judge

WHITESBURG, Ky. (AP) — Residents of a small Appalachian town struggled Friday to come to terms with a shooting that involved two of their most prominent citizens: a judge who was gunned down in his courtroom and a local sheriff who was charged with his murder.

“It’s just so sad. I just hate it,” said Mike Watts, the clerk of the Letcher County Circuit Court. “They’re both my friends. I’ve worked with both of them for years.”

According to Kentucky State Police, preliminary investigations indicate that Letcher County Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines shot District Judge Kevin Mullins multiple times following an argument in the courthouse.

Mullins, 54, who served as a judge for 15 years, died at the scene, and Stines, 43, turned himself in without incident. He was charged with one count of first-degree murder.

The fatal shooting shook the small town of Whitesburg, the county seat of about 1,700 residents, 145 miles (235 kilometers) southeast of Lexington.

Watts said he saw Mullins and Stines together just before noon on Thursday – about three hours before the shooting – when he went into the judge’s office to ask him to sign some papers. Mullins and Stines were getting ready to go out to lunch together, Watts said.

It seemed like a normal conversation, except that Stines seemed calmer than usual. He thought the two were getting along well and had no idea what might have sparked the violent altercation. Stines had been a bailiff in Mullins’ courtroom for years before becoming sheriff, Watts said.

Watts, who was on another floor of the courthouse, did not hear any gunshots and only learned of the shooting when his son called him and told him there was an “active shooter” in the courthouse.

A key question is what could have led to the shooting.

Stines was ousted Monday in a lawsuit filed by two women, one of whom claimed a deputy forced her to have sex in Mullins’ apartment for six months so she would not go to jail. The lawsuit accuses the sheriff of “deliberate indifference by failing to adequately train and supervise the deputy.”

Former Deputy Sheriff Ben Fields pleaded guilty to raping the prisoner while she was under house arrest. Fields was sentenced this year to six months in prison and then six and a half years of probation for rape, sodomy, perjury and tampering with a surveillance device, The Mountain Eagle reported. Three charges related to a second woman were dropped because she is now dead.

Stines fired Fields, who succeeded him as Mullins’ bailiff, for “unbecoming conduct” after the lawsuit was filed in 2022, the Courier Journal reported at the time.

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said his office would work with a prosecutor in the region as a special prosecutor in the criminal case.

“We will conduct a full investigation and seek justice,” Coleman said on social media.

Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice Laurance B. VanMeter said he was “shocked by this act of violence” and the court system was “shaken by this news.”

Jessica Slone, a distant relative of Stines and lifelong Letcher County resident, said she was shocked when she heard the news. She was at the dollar store with her nephew when he told her Mullins had been shot.

“I was like, ‘Seriously? Is he OK?’ And he said, ‘No, he’s dead,'” she said. “But at the time I didn’t know Mickey had done it. When I found out, I was very emotional while shopping and started praying.”

She described Stines as a family man who was close to his children and worked hard to get fentanyl and methamphetamine off the streets of the community and help people with substance use disorders recover.

The Letcher County Magistrate Judge closed the district court on Friday.

It was unclear whether Stines had an attorney – state police referred inquiries to a spokesman who did not immediately respond by email.

Mullins has served as a district judge in Letcher County since being appointed by former Governor Steve Beshear in 2009 and elected the following year.

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