Kentucky - Judge killed, sheriff arrested in Letcher County courthouse shooting - Sep. 19, 2024

[Seattle1]

9/20/24

 

[?!?]

If the judge handed his phone over to the sheriff inexchange for the sheriffs phone, MOO Mullins had no idea what level of threat the sheriff would interpret from whatever was on the phone.

MOO they each had communications from the same person.
Whatever the sheriff saw was a threat to himself.

MOO - IANAE - YMMV - etc.

..or someone he loved? Just asking.

MOO - IANAE - YMMV - etc.

 

[Hazelnutty]

Curiouser and curiouser. Did the inner chamber visual recording capture something/someone from 2021-present that would have infuriated the sheriff? Did the sheriff find that out on Thursday?
*edit to add* Did the same person text both phones with different messages in those moments?

jmoo

 

[MrsWatson]

If the Sherriff and the Judge had lunch together, could they have possibly picked up each other's phone by mistake? Did the Sheriff see something on the Judge's phone that led to this?
ETA: What if the Judge's phone received a call and the caller was not someone the Sheriff expected to see?
Pure speculation on my part.

 

[Parsnip]

Relinking the news article about the series of events just prior to and including the shooting:

Sheriff arrested in shooting death of District Judge - The Mountain Eagle

Kentucky State Police and Letcher County Coroner Perry Fowler were still at the Letcher County Courthouse at 5 p.m. today investigating the shooting death of Letcher District Judge Kevin D. Mullins, apparently by the Letcher County Sheriff. Officials say Sheriff Mickey Stines was arrested after...

www.themountaineagle.com

“Stines allegedly walked into the judge’s outer office, told court employees and others gathered there that he needed to speak with Mullins alone. The two then went into the inner office, closed the door and those outside heard shots. Stines walked out with his hands up and surrendered to police.”

ETA: this seems to be the source for TDM’s info about the phone exchange and video pertaining thereto. But I am not seeing anything in the source material that refers to video or a phone exchange. Am I referencing the wrong article?

 

[Boxer]

MOO - IANAE - YMMV - etc.

..or someone he loved? Just asking.

MOO - IANAE - YMMV - etc.

MOO I assume the deputy under Stines who was charged.

 

[Elley Mae]

Baxter wasn’t in Whitesburg at the time of the shooting and said she did not know the motive, but confirmed Stines was deposed in the ongoing lawsuit Monday for more than four hours. Stines was named as a defendant in the case on allegations he’d failed to properly train and supervise then-Deputy Ben Fields, who pleaded guilty to state charges of third-degree rape, third-degree sodomy, tampering with a prisoner’s monitoring device and second-degree perjury.

Kentucky judge shooting updates: Officials confirm Stines' location in Leslie County

Who is Sheriff Mickey Stines? Who is Kevin Mullins? Follow along for Letcher County courthouse shooting updates.

www.courier-journal.com

Fields spent several months in jail but was recently released, Baxter said. The federal lawsuit is still pending.

Baxter said Stines claimed he wasn’t aware of the allegations in the case until the lawsuit was filed in 2022 during a recent deposition.

Stines served as bailiff in Mullins’ courtroom before being elected sheriff in 2018. Fields replaced him in that position, and Baxter said the abuse of her client occurred in Mullins’ offices.

 

[GoBuckeyes]

100% agree with this. Lots of "rumors" being told on facebook and comment sections under articles. This was VERY personal to the sheriff. Still doesn't give anyone the right to kill someone. Prayers for both families.

It doesn't give someone the right to kill, but some states (I don't know if Kentucky does) have a provision in the sentencing for heat of the moment acts. I have no idea what happened or if anything like that would apply.

I agree, praying for both families. It must be a terrible shock to them both.

 

[sds71]

Kentucky Commonwealth’s Attorney for the 27th Judicial District Jackie Steele told WYMT that Stines will appear in Carter County Circuit Court for an arraignment on Wednesday, Sept. 25, at 11 a.m.

Stines is currently lodged at the Leslie County Detention Center. Steele said the hearing could be hosted on Zoom.

Arraignment set for Letcher Co. sheriff

Mickey Stines will appear for an arraignment next week.

www.wymt.com

 

[PrairieWind]

Chambers generally have an anteroom, sort of like a reception area where the secretary sits and through which one goes to access chambers, which is a private room separated by a door that is behind the anteroom. There may well be cameras within the anteroom, but ime, judges do not have cameras within chambers proper. Hth.

I have never heard of cameras in a Judge's chambers. There can be very confidential meetings conducted there and there really shouldn't be any sort of eavesdropping done.

 

[Parsnip]

ETA: replying to @PrairieWind ’s post

Like search warrants, etc. There are no cameras in judges’ chambers in my county for this and other reasons.

 

[Elley Mae]

Kentucky deputy doing contract work coerced woman to have sex in judge’s office, lawsuit says

https://www.kentucky.com/news/state/kentucky/article257919213.html

FEBRUARY 01, 2022 11:54 AM

A Kentucky sheriff’s deputy coerced a woman to have sex with him in a judge’s office by letting her avoid paying home-incarceration fees, the woman has charged in a lawsuit.

The complaint alleges that the unwanted sexual conduct by Deputy Ben Fields violated Adkins’ constitutional rights. It also alleges that Sheriff Mickey Stines did not properly supervise Fields.

 

[Seattle1]

ETA: this seems to be the source for TDM’s info about the phone exchange and video pertaining thereto. But I am not seeing anything in the source material that refers to video or a phone exchange. Am I referencing the wrong article?

The report of video showing the phone exchange was in the 9/20/24 report by The Mountain Eagle

The Mountain Eagle

The Mountain Eagle. 17,553 likes · 126 talking about this. Newspaper for Letcher County, Ky., founded 1907.

www.facebook.com

 

[tlcya]

Relinking the news article about the series of events just prior to and including the shooting:

Sheriff arrested in shooting death of District Judge - The Mountain Eagle

Kentucky State Police and Letcher County Coroner Perry Fowler were still at the Letcher County Courthouse at 5 p.m. today investigating the shooting death of Letcher District Judge Kevin D. Mullins, apparently by the Letcher County Sheriff. Officials say Sheriff Mickey Stines was arrested after...

www.themountaineagle.com

“Stines allegedly walked into the judge’s outer office, told court employees and others gathered there that he needed to speak with Mullins alone. The two then went into the inner office, closed the door and those outside heard shots. Stines walked out with his hands up and surrendered to police.”

ETA: this seems to be the source for TDM’s info about the phone exchange and video pertaining thereto. But I am not seeing anything in the source material that refers to video or a phone exchange. Am I referencing the wrong article?

Mountain Eagle posted this to their Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/ItScreams/posts/pfbid02kMzTSiKqewUnbB1ccnUVRoJtnXEA65SL6UBP79Q11nqCGUacT71rbkdBcsX3qyWbl

 

[Shadowtrix]

RE: them exchanging phones before the shooting, could this have been an agreement between the two of them to show one another that they weren’t recording audio with their phone during the meeting? It’s been reported that the judge’s chambers records video, not audio. Could the motive of the shooter have been his discovery that some audio had been recorded without his knowledge to be used as blackmail of some sort?

First thing I thought of when I heard they exchanged phones beforehand. It’s a weird detail.

 

[Parsnip]

The report of video showing the phone exchange was in the 9/20/24 report by The Mountain Eagle

The Mountain Eagle

The Mountain Eagle. 17,553 likes · 126 talking about this. Newspaper for Letcher County, Ky., founded 1907.

www.facebook.com

Thank you! And to @tlcya ! I thought I was losing my mind ;-)!

 

[Live_and_Learn]

...IMO a sheriff being trained on using a handgun properly would not need to use multiple shots if he intended to walk in and take another person’s life. And from my non expert observation from seeing other instances in the news of when an officer shoots their weapon at a person who has made them feel in danger at the time is when the officer would shoot multiple times in reaction of fearing for their own life.

This is an EXCELLENT point.

 

[whitelilac]

No doubt both phones were retrieved and whatever was on both will eventually be disclosed.

 

[tlcya]

MickeysVoice said:
...IMO a sheriff being trained on using a handgun properly would not need to use multiple shots if he intended to walk in and take another person’s life. And from my non expert observation from seeing other instances in the news of when an officer shoots their weapon at a person who has made them feel in danger at the time is when the officer would shoot multiple times in reaction of fearing for their own life.

This is an EXCELLENT point.

I think the multiple shots do not in any way indicate the Sheriff felt threatened by Judge Mullins. I suspect they are an indication of rage.

Reports state this incident is on video and that Stines drew his service weapon, walked around the judge's desk and proceeded to shoot him multiple times. That is not fear of threat. that is IMO rage.

These men worked closely for years IMO, something personal precipitated this event. Whether it was the litigation around former deputy Fields or something else remains to be seen.

 

[al66pine]

Excuse me for barging in when I've only read the first few posts, but I checked wiki on Letcher County, KY.* for a bit of background.
Mostly some general info below, re local government.

The stmt in second ¶ below --- Mullins being the District Judge, "until Sept. 2024" ---caught my attn, as it is attributed to info on the county website, retrieved MAY 2024. Retrieved in MAY?

Confusing, but maybe just me. I need to go back to beginning of thread, as the timing may make sense w info in other posts.

These two ¶s are from wiki: Letcher County, Kentucky - Wikipedia

"Sheriff
"The sheriff has the responsibility to collect taxes, election duties, provide service to courts, and enforce laws. The sheriff has the ability to make arrests within their county, and collect taxes from properties, the county, and school districts. The current sheriff is Democrat Mickey Stines.[a][60]"
^ 60. "Letcher County". www.letchercounty.ky.gov. Retrieved May 10, 2024"

"District judge
"The district judge manages juvenile issues, city and county laws, misdemeanors, violations, traffic offenses, probate of wills, arraignments, domestic violence and abuse, and small civil issues. Until September 2024, the district judge was Kevin R. Mullins.[62]"
^ 62. "Letcher County". www.letchercounty.ky.gov. Retrieved May 13, 2024.