Prosecutors show video of ex-sheriff allegedly shooting Kentucky judge

Neither the defense attorney for Stines nor the attorney prosecuting the case were immediately available for comment Wednesday.

The video showed a man prosecutors say is Stines walking into the judge’s chambers and quickly shooting at him. The judge falls out of his chair. The shooter then rotates around the desk, leans over the furniture and shoots down at the judge as he scrambles on the ground. The shooter heads back to the door, opens it, then turns around and aims his gun toward the judge before the video cuts off.

The 54-year-old judge was a longtime colleague of Stines. Before being elected sheriff in 2018, Stines served as courtroom bailiff for Mullins in Letcher County.

Whitesburg, the county seat, is a town of about 1,700 people roughly 145 miles southeast of Lexington. Officials have not explained what they believe Stines’s alleged motive was.

But the hearing did reveal details about the two men’s interactions shortly before the shooting.

Kentucky State Police detective Clayton Stamper said Mullins and Stines met for lunch with several other people at a restaurant near the courthouse just before the shooting, according to the Associated Press.

“I was told that the judge made a statement to Mickey about, ‘Do we need to meet private in my chambers?’ ” Stamper said.

When asked if he knew about any previous issues between the men, Stamper said he “heard things” regarding a lawsuit, the AP reported.

Stines is involved in a 2022 federal lawsuit that accuses his former deputy of coercing women into sex in Mullins’s chambers when they couldn’t pay fees related to ankle monitors required for home confinement. One of the plaintiffs alleges that Stines failed “to adequately train and supervise” the deputy and “knew or should have known” the deputy was sexually abusing the women.

Stines fired the deputy, who pleaded guilty last year and served six months in jail before he was released on probation, according to the Mountain Eagle, Whitesburg’s local newspaper.

In the murder case, Chief Regional District Judge Rupert Wilhoit ruled there was enough probable cause to move the case along and have a grand jury decide whether to indict Stines, said Kevin Grout, spokesman with Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman’s office.

Stines pleaded not guilty to his first-degree murder charge last week. He stepped down as sheriff Monday, according to the AP. If convicted of murder, Stines could serve 20 years to life in prison. Stines could also face the death penalty if convicted because he is accused of killing a public official.

His defense attorney on Tuesday asked Wilhoit if there was probable cause to consider the crime eligible for a manslaughter charge because Stines was experiencing an “extreme emotional disturbance,” according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. That distinction matters because it would remove the possibility of capital punishment. The judge decided to move forward with the murder charge.