A former Kentucky sheriff claims he is not culpable of shooting his judge friend dead in his chambers because he was in a moment of insanity and extreme emotional stress.
Shawn ‘Mickey’ Stines, 43, is charged with the murder of District Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, in his office in September. The shooting was caught on video but the motive of the murder remains unclear.
Stines ‘intends to present expert evidence relating to a mental disease or defect or mental condition bearing on the issue of guilt and punishment,’ his lawyer Jeremy Bartley said in a court filing.
The former sheriff also ‘intends to present a defense of insanity, as well as a defense of extreme emotional disturbance,’ as reported by Fox News.
Stine’s attorney Bartley has previously said the case will hinge on testimony that Stines gave at a deposition days before the shooting.
Bartley said the deposition forced the sheriff answer questions about one of his deputies who was accused of sexually assaulting jail inmates. An accuser in that case claimed that she was forced by former Deputy Sheriff Ben Fields to have sex in Mullins’ chambers for six months in exchange for staying out of jail.
The defense attorney said Sheriff Stines feared that backlash from his deposition testimony caused him to fear that his or his family’s lives were in danger.
Former Letcher County Sheriff Shawn ‘Mickey’ Stines, 43, is set to issue an insanity defense in the fatal shooting of District Judge Kevin Mullins in September 2024
Stines’ attorney said this week that there may be ‘more evidence that would support a finding that he wasn’t criminally responsible’ for the shooting
Since Mullins was gunned down in his own chambers, allegations have surfaced that his courtroom office was used by one of Stines’ deputies in a sex-for-favors scandal
Bartley claimed that Stines’ ‘mental health’ was affected by the perceived threat that stemmed from the deposition.
‘Ultimately, he was in fear for the safety of his wife and his daughter, and I think what you see there is the result of that,’ the defense attorney said.
It comes amid allegations that Judge Mullins himself may have been tied to a sex-for-favors scandal in their small town of Whitesburg.
When Stines was taken into custody for the shooting, he allegedly exclaimed: ‘They’re trying to kidnap my wife and kid.’
Accuser Sabrina Adkins claimed that she was forced, alongside other women, to have sex with former Deputy Sheriff Fields in exchange for favorable treatment after their arrests.
She told NewsNation that Judge Mullins ‘does have some videotapes of some stuff in the judge’s chambers… just with girls, sexual and stuff.’
Fields was fired by Stines before being ultimately arrested and sentenced to six months of jail.
In a legal filing, defense lawyer Bartley said that ‘expert evidence relating to a mental disease or defect or mental condition bearing on the issue of guilt and punishment’ will be presented in the case.
Bartley said he believes there may be ‘more evidence that would support a finding that Stines wasn’t criminally responsible’, but did not offer specifics.
Stines’ attorney Jeremy Bartley said this week that ‘expert evidence relating to a mental disease or defect or mental condition bearing on the issue of guilt and punishment’ will be presented in the upcoming trial
Stines, seen in his mugshot, pleaded not guilty to murder charges following his arrest, and his attorney has indicated that he plans to issue an insanity defense at trial
Stines, seen after his arrest, was reportedly telling officers that his ‘wife and kid’ were in danger when he was detained for Mullins’ shooting
Stines has remained in custody since the shooting, which was captured on shocking footage that showed the sheriff enter Mullins’ chambers and blast eight bullets into him.
In the moments before, officials said that Stines tried to call his daughter before grabbing Mullins’ phone and also trying to call her.
Prosecutors said the shooting came seemingly out of the blue, as the sheriff and judge had enjoyed lunch together that afternoon.
They shared an outside table at the popular Streetside Grill & Bar on Main Street for lunch, only a few hundred yards from the courthouse.
The pair were longtime friends and lunchtime regulars together at the sports bar and on that fateful Thursday ordered their usual – both having the $13.99 wings with salad.
Detectives are probing a potential motive, with one theory reportedly investigated by detectives being whether Stines discovered his daughter’s phone number in Mullins’ phone.
CCTV footage played in court during a preliminary hearing on October 2 showed Stines checking his phone before making a call from the judge’s.
Kentucky State Police Detective Clayton Stamper testified that he was told the sheriff had tried to contact his daughter from both devices.
The two men had become friends after Stines served as Mullins’ bailiff in his courthouse since 2009, before he was elected sheriff in 2018.
Video of the shooting shows Stines pointing his weapon at Mullins as his hands are raised cowering behind his desk – but the sheriff’s lawyers insist the killing was not planned.
