Arguing was heard in the late District Judge Kevin Mullins’s office moments before he was allegedly shot and killed by Letcher County Sheriff Shawn M. Stines 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,” Kentucky State Police Trooper Matt Gayheart said.
Mullins, 54, died at the scene, and Stines, 43, surrendered without incident.
On Monday, Stines was deposed in a lawsuit that accused him of “deliberate indifference in failing to adequately train and supervise.” In the lawsuit, one woman alleged that one of Stines’ deputies, Ben Fields, had raped her inside the now-deceased judge’s chambers for over six months. The sexual interaction was in lieu of staying out of jail, according to ABC News.
Stines fired the deputy for “conduct unbecoming” after he pled guilty to raping the woman. ABC News reports that Fields was sentenced to six months in jail with six and a half years on probation. He was charged with rape, sodomy, perjury, and tampering with a prisoner monitoring device. Fields was previously set to be Stines’s successor as Mullins’s courtroom security.
There was a second woman complainant, but she died due to a drug overdose soon after the 2022 suit was filed, according to The Mountain Eagle.
As previously reported on CrimeOnline, Stines came into Mullins’s outer office at about 3 p.m. and told court employees and others gathered there that he needed to speak with Mullins privately.
Mullins and Stines walked into his private chambers and closed the door. Those who remained in the outer office said they heard gunshots before Stines walked out with his hands up and surrendered.
Kentucky State Police later confirmed the judge’s death and said that Stines had been charged with first-degree murder. Officials have not described a motive, although social media commenters have been wildly speculating.
According to WKYT, Mullins was an assistant commonwealth attorney before then-Gov. Steve Beshear, the current governor’s father, appointed him to the bench in 2009. He was elected to the post the following year. Stines was elected Letcher County sheriff in 2018 and reelected in 2022.
Stines has been booked into the Leslie County Detention Center. It is not known at this time if he has obtained legal counsel.
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[Featured image: Mickey Stines/Letcher County Sheriff’s Office and Kevin D. Mullins/47th Judicial District]
