The Kentucky sheriff is charged in the fatal shooting of the judge in his chambers and pleads not guilty

CARTER COUNTY, Ky. – The Kentucky sheriff charged with first-degree murder in the death of a county judge pleaded not guilty Wednesday in his first court appearance since the killing that shocked the small Letcher County community.

Shawn “Mickey” Stines, 43, remains jailed without bail following an arraignment that took place remotely in a Carter County courtroom, 100 miles from the courthouse where Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, was shot six days earlier.

Prosecutors presented no evidence during the arraignment, so a possible motive for the killing remains a mystery. Stines appeared remotely from the Leslie County Detention Center.

Stines also did not comment on the allegations 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 owned two homes and earned $115,000 as sheriff, was truly indigent.

“Sir, from what I understand, he is obviously in the process of losing his job as Letcher County Sheriff and will have no future income,” public defender Josh Miller told the judge.

A preliminary hearing to present evidence in the case was scheduled for Oct. 1 before a different judge in Morgan County, a different courtroom far from the crime scene.

Authorities said what happened in the judge’s office shortly before the fatal afternoon shooting is still being investigated. Other people were in the building when the judge was shot, but no one else was in his chambers, said Kentucky State Police Trooper Matt Gayheart.

According to the Kentucky Sheriff’s Association, Stines’ job meant he was responsible for security in county courts, including the personal safety of judges. He now faces a first-degree murder charge, and it’s unclear who will take his place as sheriff.

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

Stines and Mullins had lunch together hours before the shooting, court clerk Mike Watts told CNN affiliate WKYT.

“The whole county is just devastated by this,” Watts told WKYT, pointing to the gap that has been created in the local justice system. “Not only did we lose our sheriff and county judge, but I also lost two personal friends that I worked with on a daily basis.”

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

The lawsuit alleges that the sexual allegations against the deputy “were not adequately 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 that he was not authorized to speak on Stines’ personal behalf in the federal lawsuit or the murder case.

An act of violence between two men “I loved like brothers,” says the district attorney
Many residents knew the two prominent community figures, and friends of the sheriff and judge said they were stunned by the killing and had difficulty understanding why it happened.

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

When they heard reports of an active shooter in the courthouse, Court Security Officer Wallace Kincer and Clerk Watts sprang into action, guiding attorneys and court staff away from the unknown danger lurking in the chambers, according to Letcher County Commonwealth’s Attorney Matt Butler.

Fear spread throughout the county as Letcher County Public Schools students went into lockdown just before 3:30 p.m

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

Butler retired himself and his office from sheriff’s law enforcement 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 have occurred between two men with whom I worked for seventeen years and loved like brothers,” Butler said in a social media post.

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

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

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

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

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