The wife of a Kentucky sheriff accused of gunning down a district judge has delivered testimony that casts doubt on what truly drove her husband to pull the trigger, raising fresh questions on what compelled him to kill his longtime friend in cold blood.
The Lexington Herald Leader – that reviewed grand jury testimony before it was re-sealed just hours later — revealed that courts heard shocking details about the case involving Letcher County Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines, who is accused of gunning down District Judge Kevin Mullins.
Also released was chilling footage from inside Mullins’ office, showing what happened on September 19, 2024.
Friends first had lunch
Just hours after Stines had lunch with the judge, his longtime friend, the sheriff entered his chambers and opened fire, unleashing nine shots that killed Mullins as he sat helplessly at his desk.
Moments after gunshots echoed through the courthouse in the town of Whitesburg, Stines “causally walked out” of the judge’s office, leaving behind the dead body of Mullins, the town’s sitting judge since 2009.
Chilling calmness
According to a testimony from Kentucky State Police Detective Clayton, after shooting Mullins inside his chambers, Stines – elected as sheriff in 2018 – simply exited the courthouse and walked away from the scene with chilling calmness.
“He casually walks in and pretty much casually walks out,” Stamper testified.
At the time, law enforcement officers were already arriving at the courthouse,
“Where’s the shooter?” one of the Letcher County deputies asked Stines, who just kept walking, with a “blank look on his face.”
‘It’s me’
Surveillance footage from the courthouse reviewed by investigators then shows Stines doing something even more unusual. After walking out of the building, he turns around and comes back in.
“Sheriff Stines walked in right behind [law enforcement] and he said basically words to the effect of, there’s nobody else, it was me,” testified Stamper, per the grand jury transcripts. “He takes his pistol out and he lays it on a table that’s just to the right of the doorway just inside the courthouse.”
That’s when Stines spoke up and dropped a bombshell: “There’s nobody else. It’s me,” Stines said, according to reports.
“He made a statement like, they’re trying to kidnap my wife and kid, or something like that, to one of the officers, so they take him in custody at that time, he’s handcuffed,” Stamper added.
Responding officers soon found Judge Mullins, 54, lying on the floor of his office with multiple gunshot wounds – he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Video from judge’s chamber
Before the fatal gunfire, Detective Stamper told jurors that surveillance footage from inside Judge Mullins’ chambers showed Sheriff Stines ordering four people to leave, checking several doors, then taking the judge’s phone.
Stines is then seen placing a call using the judge’s phone, though it’s unclear whether the call was answered. The video contains no audio, leaving key details of the exchange unknown – including what was said or the intent behind the call.
Used Mullins’ phone to ‘call his own daughter’
The shocking footage fueled widespread speculation, especially after investigators discovered the phone number of Stines’ underage daughter on Mullins’ device, supporting the claim that the judge had been in contact with the sheriff’s underage daughter.
During an earlier hearing, Detective Stamper had testified that the girl’s phone number appeared on Mullins’ call records. But he later clarified to the grand jury that Sheriff Stines himself had used the judge’s phone to place a call to his daughter just moments before the shooting – a key detail that may shift how prosecutors frame the sheriff’s intent and mental state.
“Sheriff Stines used Judge Mullins’ phone while he’s sitting in the chair in front of Judge Mullins’ desk to call his own daughter,” Stamper testified in court. “(Stines) used the judge’s phone to call (his daughter).”
Stamper said no other calls – or contact via text, social media, phone calls or in person – had been made to the girl.
In sworn testimony, both Stines’ wife, Caroline, and their daughter denied any relationship – romantic, sexual, or otherwise – with Mullins, casting doubt on early rumors that suggested a personal motive behind the killing.
‘Psychosis’
Despite the graphic evidence – that shows Mullins’ raising his hands in a futile attempt to block the gunfire – Stines has pleaded not guilty and continues to maintain his innocence.
Stines’ attorneys admit he fired the fatal shots but say they will argue he was legally insane and acting under extreme emotional disturbance, People reports.
In fact, a medical report from Leslie County Detention Center staff suggests that Stines was in an “active state of psychosis” for days after the incident.
The report, dated September 23, 2024, stated: “Upon evaluation of Mr. Stines, it appears that he is still in an active state of psychosis.” Medical staff noted he appeared disoriented, had no recollection of the recent past, and was only aware of information jail staff told him, per the Lexington Herald Leader.
“We’re confident that there will be evidence that his mental health was impaired,” defense attorney Jeremy Bartley previously told People. “It’s a tragic situation all around.”
What happened inside that office remains a mystery, but what’s emerged since has only deepened the intrigue – and raised serious questions about what motivated the sheriff to shoot a sitting judge in cold blood.
What do you think really happened in the judge’s chamber that day? Please share your thoughts with us and then share this story so we can get the conversation going!
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