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<p class="has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-43adf9475746e80d314836630ba6efb0 wp-block-paragraph" style="color:#302323;font-size:14px"><strong>Lecher County sheriff assassinated district judge nine days before he was to give a deposition in a &#8216;sex for favors &#8216; corruption case against a former deputy in his office</strong></p>



<p class="has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-d19f89cc409cf6f6f6b084fa458a0cd1 wp-block-paragraph" style="color:#302323;font-size:14px"><strong>District judge Kevin Mullins, 54, was shot dead in his chambers, after a short argument, by sheriff Mickey Stines, 44 , on Thursday afternoon</strong></p>



<p class="has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-548e41d8be74a67783a3a754d5c11171 wp-block-paragraph" style="color:#302323;font-size:14px"><strong>Sheriff Stines had entered the courtroom and asked to speak to Mullins privately before they headed to the judge&#8217;s office</strong></p>



<p class="has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-03fc3f0da2d34f81d718e32810149420 wp-block-paragraph" style="color:#302323;font-size:14px"><strong>After a short conversation, Stines reportedly stood up to lock the door and each man then took their cellphone out and handed it to the other</strong></p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Kevin-Mullins-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-468721" style="width:839px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Killed: District judge Kevin Mullins, [photo], was shot dead in his office after a short argument by Letcher County sheriff Mickey Stines, according to police </strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">A Kentucky sheriff exchanged phones with a local judge before shooting him dead in his chambers, according to a new report. <br>District judge Kevin Mullins, 54, was shot dead in his office after a short argument by Letcher County sheriff Mickey Stines, 44, inside the courthouse in Whitesburg, Kentucky on Thursday afternoon, according to police.<br>A motive for the shooting which happened around 3 PM local time, in the small community of about 1,700 people, remains unclear, but video from the judge&#8217;s office shows the two men looked at each other&#8217;s phones before Stines opened fire, sources told <a class="" href="https://www.themountaineagle.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Mountain Eagle</a>. <br>Called to the scene, State Troopers found judge Kevin Mullins with multiple gunshot wounds. Mullins was pronounced dead at the scene.<br>The alleged shooter was arrested at the scene on one count of first-degree murder, without incident.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Mickey-Stines-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-468720" style="width:841px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph"><strong>The shooter, Letcher County sheriff Mickey Stines, [photo], entered the courtroom in Whitesburg on Thursday afternoon and asked to speak to Judge Mullins privately before they headed to the judge&#8217;s chambers. An argument ensued, the pair exchanged phones, before Stines drew his weapon and shot Mullins repeatedly</strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Sheriff Stines had entered the courtroom and asked to speak to Mullins privately before they headed to the judge&#8217;s office.<br>After a short conversation, Stines reportedly stood up to lock the door and each man then took their cellphone out and handed it to the other, the local outlet reported. <br>Stines then allegedly drew his weapon, walked around the judge&#8217;s desk and shot him repeatedly as Mullins fell to the floor.<br>The sheriff and the judge had apparently had lunch together with other court employees hours before the killing. <br>&#8216;We know that it was an argument between the two that led up, but what exactly transpired prior to the shots being fired, that&#8217;s still things that we&#8217;re trying to get answers to,&#8217; said Kentucky State Police Trooper Matt Gayheart. <br>Stines was judge Mullins&#8217; bailiff before he became sheriff in 2018. The father-of-two reportedly, was planning to retire when his term ended,instead he&#8217;s in jail facing charges related to first-degree murder. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Mickey-Stines-3.png" alt="" class="wp-image-468724" style="width:840px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Staffers reveal that the sheriff Stines killed Judge Mullins in his chambers- nine days before he was expected to give a deposition on horrible sex crimes linked to one of Stine&#8217;s deputies who subsequently, was convicted of those crimes. Deputy Ben fields the plaintiff said used the judges office as a crashpad. </strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The Kentucky court chambers where Judge Kevin Mullins was allegedly gunned down by local sheriff Mickey Stines had a dark history of sex crimes with links to both the judge and the sheriff.<br>Stines was previously accused in a lawsuit of failing to investigate claims that one of his deputies had repeatedly sexually assaulted a woman in the same judge&#8217;s chambers. <br>The former inmate, Sabrina Adkins, claims in a federal lawsuit that she could not afford to pay for an ankle monitor and did not want to return to Letcher County Jail. <br>Deputy Ben Fields then coerced her into performing sexual favors so she could remain under home incarceration, according to a federal lawsuit filed in 2022. <br>Fields was convicted of raping and sodomizing former inmate Adkins inside Mullins&#8217; chamber, where he told her there were no cameras,<a href="https://www.wymt.com/2024/01/04/former-letcher-co-deputy-receives-sentence/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> WYMT Now</a>, reports. Sentenced in January, he is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Letcher-County-Courthouse-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-468725" style="width:841px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Letcher County courthouse was closed Friday, a day after the shooting of Judge Kevin Mullins in his chambers. That office allegedly had a dark history of sex crimes with links to both the judge and the sheriff</strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Mullins, who held the judgeship for 15 years, died at the scene, and Stines surrendered without incident. <br>The fatal shooting sent shock waves through a tight-knit Appalachian town and county seat of government with about 1,700 residents located about 145 miles southeast of Lexington.<br>According to an electronically filed deposition notice, Sheriff Stines was expected to provide a deposition Monday related to the 2022 lawsuit with the former deputy sheriff Ben Fields, named as a defendant, and Adkins who alleged she was promised &#8220;favorable treatment for sexual favors,&#8221; &#8211; four days before Stine assassinated the judge. <br>In 2002, Stines fired Fields, who is currently is serving seven years in prison after pleading guilty to taping the former inmate.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Mickey-Stines-4.png" alt="" class="wp-image-468727" style="width:840px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph"><strong>It remains unknown why Stines who was reportedly, was planning to retire when his term ended, would shoot his former boss. He was judge Mullins&#8217; bailiff before he became sheriff in 2018</strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Lead county prosecutor Matt Butler described an outpouring of sympathy as he recused himself and his office from investigations in the shooting, citing social and family ties to Mullins.<br>&#8216;We all know each other here. &#8230; Anyone from Letcher County would tell you that Judge Mullins and I married sisters and that we have children who are first cousins but act like siblings,&#8217; Butler said in statement from his office.<br>&#8216;For that reason, among others, I have already taken steps to recuse myself and my entire office.&#8217;<br>Letcher County’s judge-executive signed an order closing on Friday the county courthouse where the shooting took place.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Kevin-Mullins-3.png" alt="" class="wp-image-468726" style="width:848px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph"><strong>15-year veteran judge, Kevin Mullins, [photo], previously was an assistant commonwealth attorney for nine and a half years, focusing on drug-related offenses. He gained recognition for his efforts to treat those with drug addiction rather than incarcerate them, a program he started in in 2010 </strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Mullins has been a judge in the commonwealth for 15 years, after previously serving as an assistant commonwealth attorney for nine and a half years, focusing on drug-related offenses. Hes was appointed to serve as a judge in the state&#8217;s 47th district under former Governor Steve Beshear in 2009. <br>He oversaw juvenile matters, city and county ordinances, misdemeanors, traffic offenses, arraignments, felony probable cause hearings, claims involving $2,500 or less, civil cases involving $5,000 or less, voluntary and involuntary mental commitments and domestic violence cases, according to a Letcher County website.<br>He gained recognition for his efforts to treat those with drug addiction rather than incarcerate them, starting a program in 2010 that allowed inmates with substance abuse disorders to enroll in inpatient treatment as a condition of pretrial release.<br>Mickey Stines, meanwhile, was elected sheriff in 2018 and re-elected in 2022.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"></p>

Sheriff walks into chambers of Kentucky judge and shoots him multiple times after a brief conversation and exchange of cell phones
