Video made public in court hearing shows Kentucky sheriff shooting judge in his office

WEST LIBERTY, Ky. — The slaying of an Eastern Kentucky judge by the county sheriff was captured on video in the judge’s office.

Video played for the first time in public Tuesday showed then-Letcher County Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines standing in the office of District Judge Kevin Mullins, who was sitting at his desk.

Stines pointed his pistol, Mullins raised his hands and then Stines shot him, sending the judge crashing to the floor.

It appeared on the video that Mullins struggled to get up, and Stines then shot him several more times.

There was no sound with the video clip, which lasted 10 to 15 seconds.

The special prosecutor in the case, Jackie Steele, played the video during a preliminary hearing for Stines Tuesday in district court in Morgan County.

Several woman in the courtroom wept loudly as the video played.

Stines, 43, is charged with murder in the Sept. 19 shooting death of Mullins. He surrendered to police immediately after the shooting.

Tuesday’s hearing was to determine if Judge Rupert Wilhoit III would find probable cause to believe Stines committed the crime.

Wilhoit ruled there was probable cause to send the case to a grand jury to consider whether to indict Stines. The standard to find probable cause is lower than what would be required to convict Stines at trial.

Stines has been jailed since the shooting and retired this week, clearing the way for Judge-Executive Terry Adams to appoint a replacement.

He was at Tuesday’s hearing, handcuffed at the wrists and chained at the ankles. He did not speak publicly. The hearing provided several new details publicly in the high-profile case.

Clayton Stamper, a detective with the Kentucky State Police who is leading the investigation, testified that earlier in the day of the shooting, Mullins and Stines ate lunch together at a restaurant near the courthouse in Whitesburg.

Stamper testified the judge asked Stines at lunch whether they needed to meet privately in Mullins’ office.

Stamper said he does not yet know the subject of the meeting.

Stamper testified that when Stines went to Mullins’ office later, there were several people in the office, but they left.

Some stayed in a room adjacent to the office when shots rang out. One woman also reportedly heard a man say, “Help, help,” Stamper said.

Stamper said before the shots, Stines tried to call his daughter — who was not identified during the hearing — on his phone. He then tried to call her on Mullins’ phone.

The daughter’s number was in the judge’s phone, Stamper said.

Stamper said Stines stood up from his chair in the judge’s office after looking at Mullins’ phone and shot him seconds later.

Bartley asked Stamper if the investigation had turned up any evidence to determine the motivation of the shooting was anything other than what was on Mullins’ phone.

Stamper said no, but said the investigation is continuing.

Bartley said later that he doesn’t yet have information on the contents of the judge’s phone.

After the hearing, Bartley declined to answer a Herald-Leader reporter’s question if Stines believed there was something inappropriate in Mullins’ contact with the daughter.

There has been no evidence offered publicly about Mullins’ contact with Stines’ daughter.

The hearing also offered a window into a possible defense Stines was suffering a mental-health crisis at the time of the shooting.

Bartley raised that issue during the hearing, noting that extreme emotional disturbance is a defense in a murder charge.

Stamper said Stines seemed relatively calm when he saw him after the shooting. Stines didn’t say what happened, but asked other police to treat him fairly, Stamper said.

However, Stamper also said Stines made a comment to another officer after he was arrested, saying, “They’re trying to kidnap my wife and daughter.”

State law says a person shall not be found guilty of murder “if he acted under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance for which there was a reasonable explanation or excuse, the reasonableness of which is to be determined from the viewpoint of a person in the defendant’s situation under the circumstances as the defendant believed them to be.”

A person can still be found guilty of first-degree manslaughter or other crimes under the provision.

The death penalty is one potential punishment if Stines is found guilty of murder because Mullins was a public official. But if Stines was suffering extreme emotional disturbance at the time of the shooting, it could take capital punishment off the table, based on Kentucky law.

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