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Shawn “Mickey” Stines was indicted on one count of murder of a
public official by a Letcher County grand jury, prosecutors
said. Stines was sheriff of the southeastern Kentucky county
when authorities say he walked into District Judge Kevin
Mullins’ chambers in Whitesburg, spoke with the judge and then
opened fire on Sept. 19.
Mullins, 54, who held the judgeship for 15 years, died at the
scene, and Stines surrendered without incident. Stines pleaded
not guilty to murder and has been held in another Kentucky
county jail.
Stines, 43, stepped down as sheriff more than a week after the
shooting and his replacement, Billy Jones, was sworn in on Oct.
1. Jones was a former resource officer at a high school in
Letcher County.
Prosecutors did not comment after the indictment was returned
Thursday in Letcher County. Attorneys for Stines did not
immediately respond to a phone call and an email seeking
comment.
Police have given no motive for the shooting involving two
prominent members of the county bordering Virginia. Whitesburg
is 146 miles (235 kilometers) southeast of Lexington, Kentucky.
Video showing the judge being gunned down was played at a court
hearing last month. The video, with no audio, showed a man
identified by police as Stines pulling out a gun and shooting
the judge as he sat at his desk. The man walked around the desk,
pointed the gun at the judge — who had fallen to the floor — and
fired again, it showed. Some people in the courtroom gallery
sobbed as the video was played.
Mullins died from multiple gunshot wounds, a Kentucky State
Police detective said at the hearing.
The detective testified that Stines tried calling his daughter
on Mullins’ phone and his own phone just before the shooting.
Investigators found no weapon on Mullins or in his chambers, the
detective said.
On the day of the shooting, Mullins and Stines met for lunch
with several other people at a restaurant near the courthouse,
the detective said during the hearing.
Stines’ defense team said they left the hearing with more
questions than answers and said they were conducting their own
“parallel investigation."
Stines could potentially face the death penalty for the murder
charge.
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