Tiny Kentucky town is rocked as their sheriff is jailed in the killing of a prominent judge

Residents of a tiny Appalachian town struggled Friday to cope with a shooting involving two of its most prominent citizens: a judge who was gunned down in his courthouse chambers and a local sheriff charged with his murder.

“It’s just so sad. I just hate it,” said Mike Watts, the Letcher County circuit court clerk. “Both of them are friends of mine. I’ve worked with both of them for years.”

It wasn’t clear what led to the shooting. The preliminary investigation indicates Letcher County Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines shot District Judge Kevin Mullins multiple times following an argument inside the courthouse, according to Kentucky State Police.

Mullins, 54, who held the judgeship for 15 years, died at the scene, and Stines, 43, surrendered without incident. He was charged with one count of first-degree murder.

The fatal shooting stunned the tight-knit town of Whitesburg, the county seat, with a population of about 1,700 people, 145 miles (235 kilometers) southeast of Lexington.

Stines was deposed on Monday in a lawsuit filed by two women, one of whom alleged that a deputy forced her to have sex inside Mullins’ chambers for six months in exchange for staying out of jail. The lawsuit accuses the sheriff of “deliberate indifference in failing to adequately train and supervise” the deputy.

The now-former deputy sheriff, Ben Fields, pleaded guilty to raping the female prisoner while she was on home incarceration. Fields was sentenced this year to six months in jail and then six and a half years on probation for rape, sodomy, perjury and tampering with a prisoner monitoring device, The Mountain Eagle reported. Three charges related to a second woman were dismissed because she is now dead.

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

Those who know both the sheriff and the judge had nothing but praise for them, recalling how Mullins helped people with substance abuse disorder get treatment and how Stines led efforts to combat the opioid crisis. They worked together for years and were friends.

Those who knew Stines also were struggling to understand how someone they described as a family man could kill someone.

Jessica Slone, a distant relative of Stines’ and a lifelong resident of Letcher County, 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 okay? And he said ‘No, he’s dead,’” she said. “But at the time, I didn’t know that Mickey had done it. When I found out I was grocery shopping and I got really emotional and started praying.”

She said Stines was close with his children and worked hard to get fentanyl and methamphetamine off the streets of the community and help people dealing with substance use disorder get into recovery.

Patty Wood, the widow of District Judge Jim Wood, Mullins’ predecessor, said she has been close friends with Stines and his family for years. She said she was shocked by the shooting and the arrest of Stines.

“You couldn’t find a better person on the face of the earth than Mickey Stines. I don’t know what happened,” she said.

“I know Mickey’s character. And I know there had to be something that did it,” she said. “I just cannot believe that he just went in and shot him for no reason.”

Jennifer L. Taylor, a Whitesburg attorney, said Stines has a big heart and was looking forward to retiring from law enforcement, she said. In a recent conversation with her, Stines brought up that he might go to law school. Mullins, she said, “took his time out to listen to people.”

“Keep our community in prayers,” Taylor said. “It’s going to be a rough time.”

Several people also reflected on how a relatively quiet day in court quickly turned chaotic.

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

It seemed like an ordinary interaction, except that Stines seemed quieter than usual. He thought the pair had a good working relationship and knew of nothing that could have prompted the violent encounter.

Watts, who was on another floor in the courthouse, never heard any shots and only learned of the shooting shooting when his son called to tell him there was an “active shooter” in the courthouse.

Taylor said she was at her law office a short distance from the courthouse, when the shooting happened Thursday. “We just saw cars flying by,” she said. “I’m still in shock. It’s unreal.”

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said his office will collaborate with a regional commonwealth’s attorney as special prosecutors in the criminal case, since the lead county prosecutor, Matt Butler, recused himself and his office. Butler said he and the judge married two sisters, and their children act like siblings.

“We will fully investigate and pursue justice,” Coleman said on social media.

Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice Laurance B. VanMeter was in Whitesburg on Friday and said he was visiting to show his support for the community and “our Kentucky Court of Justice family,” he said. “They are obviously in shock and grieving.”

VanMeter commented on the swirl of social media speculation about what triggered the shooting.

“I know it’s hard to do, but I would hope that people on social media would just respect their privacy and their grief and let them mourn,” he said. “It’s just a tragic, horrific situation.”

Letcher County's judge-executive closed the county courthouse on Friday.

It was unclear whether Stines had an attorney — state police referred inquires to a spokesperson who did not immediately respond by email.

Mullins served as a district judge in Letcher County since he was appointed by former Gov. Steve Beshear in 2009 and elected the following year.

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Researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed from New York.