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

[Cryptic]

Watts said the two worked closely together. As Mullins started a program to help inmates with substance abuse disorders, and Stines helped drive those people to and from appointments.

Yikes, this might indicate the same type of "circle of love" that has periodically forms around various interests. Such love circles tend to be centered on rehabilitation or juvenile justice.

I think there is an old church hymn about "Unbroken Circles" ie "Let the circle, stay unbroken...". Maybe a circle in this case came unglued- then things went downhill?

Love partner #1: Owner of for profit adult rehab or juvenile reform places. County, state or feds pay for the services. Bills can be inflated because government entities are known for just sending the checks with out a lot of checking (get it, get it). Needless to say, the more people passing though, the more checks come in.

Love partner #2 Judges who then near always (imagine that) order adults 'n youth to selected uhmm...."preferred providers" for rehab and / or reform. The they then get kick backs from Love Partner #1

Love partner #3 Local Police Partner really closes the circle. Love Partner #2 (judges) cant order anybody to rehab / reform who is not present in their Court. So, Love Partner #3 nets them in via focused, very focused enforcement. Judges then pass them to Love Partner 1. Police also get a kick back from Love Partner #1 or #2.

 

[Elley Mae]

And in that tight-knit community, Butler knows rumors spread like wildfire. In a video he posted Friday morning on social media, he told viewers he “would not be a source of gossip” and asked those in the region, many of whom have his cellphone number, to do the same.

“If you are only looking to gossip or to be a troublemaker or a stirrer-up of gossip, leave me out of that conversation and just don't have that conversation,” Butler said. “Be more respectful.”

Without a motive, Kentucky sheriff's shooting of judge leaves more questions than answers

They'd been friends for years and were two well-known elected officials. So why would Letcher County's sheriff shoot its only judge in the courthouse?

www.courier-journal.com

 

[mickey2942]

Rural areas are completely intertwined. For example, I live in a rural area, I don't "know" the sheriff personally, but I have worked with his son, and babysat for his grandkids. It is like that game, "Six Degrees From Kevin Bacon", where everyone in the movie business can be linked to "Kevin Bacon".

So, it is practically impossible to find people who are not linked in some way to the Sheriff and the judge in that town.

 

[sunshineray]

^^rsbm

No, not correct. A Sheriff is an elected County official and there is only one Sheriff -- in Letcher County, this person is Sheriff Mickey Stines, the accused killer of Judge Kevin Mullins.

In Feb 2022, an 47 yr old female filed a civil lawsuit against former Deputy Fields from Letcher County alleging harassment and false information by Fields. At the time of the plaintiff's suit, no criminal charges for sexual assault had ever been filed against Fields.

In September of 2022, a grand jury indicted Fields on several charges stemming from the inappropriate relationship he had with multiple adult women. In January 2024, Fields agreed to enter a plea agreement and was sentenced to 6 months in jail, and 6.5 years probation, and to register as a sex offender. I believe Fields is probably out of jail now.

To my knowledge, there are no teen victims. I believe there were only two women here and one has since died of an overdose. Both women had been jailed for drug charges when the crimes against them occurred.

1/10/24 -- Ex-deputy sheriff is sentenced; one victim tells of ‘nightmares’ - The Mountain Eagle

ETA: I don't believe the shooting of Judge Mullins is related to the former deputy assaulting women in exchange for no charge ankle monitors.

When the crimes occurred, Fields had left his job at the jail to work as a court security officer in Letcher District Court and worked for Eastern Kentucky Correctional Services, Inc., which provides electronic monitoring devices to prisoners who have been placed on house arrest as a condition of their bail. Prisoners are required to pay for the monitoring.
[..]
The women claimed Fields told them he would not make them pay for the monitoring if they would do him “a favor.” Fields disabled the devices, told the monitoring company that bail conditions had been changed so the devices were not required, and then used threats of arrest to force the women to have sex with him.

When Letcher Circuit Judge James W. Craft II asked Fields for GPS coordinates for one of the subjects for a court appearance, Fields said he couldn’t locate her and filed an escape charge against her, court records show.

The State Police spokesman mentioned the outer areas near the judges chambers having video surveillance cameras (not the judge's chambers). How did the deputy sheriff get into the judge's chambers with women without the cameras recording him doing so? Did the courthouse turn off all surveillance after hours?

 

[sunshineray]

SHERIFF, JUDGE ALLEGEDLY LOOKED AT EACH OTHER’S CELL PHONES BEFORE SHOOTING

According to multiple sources, video from inside Letcher District Judge Kevin Mullins’ office shows he exchanged cell phones with Letcher County Sheriff Mickey Stines before Stines shot him.
There is no audio on the recording.

Stines had been in the office after asking to speak to Mullins privately. The two sat and talked before Stines stood up and locked the door and each took out his cell phone and handed it to the other.
According to those sources, Stines drew his weapon, walked around Mullins’s desk and shot him repeatedly as Mullins fell to the floor. Stines allegedly fired eight shots.

The two had eaten lunch together with employees of the court system earlier that day.
The shooting occurred about 2:43 p.m. Thursday. Police were dispatched at 2:58 p.m.
Stines left the office and surrendered to police. He was in custody within 15 minutes of the initial call. He has been charged with first-degree murder.

Meanwhile, the Letcher County Courthouse remains closed today, Friday, as the investigation continues. Grief counselors were made available to courthouse workers, attorneys, and other involved.

The Mountain Eagle

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

www.facebook.com

This sounds highly personal to me. First they're just talking, then the Sheriff gets up and locks the door. They exchange phones!? After looking at the judge's phone he shoots him dead with 8 bullets!! That's rage at whatever was on the judge's phone and the phone the sheriff handed to the judge. I don't think that was the Sheriff's own phone he handed to the judge. MO

 

[sunshineray]

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.

Wow, that could be it!

 

[Elley Mae]

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.

Just saw that you posted thus, my thought as well.

 

[gitana1]

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.

Such a smart thought!!

 

[sunshineray]

The description sounds to me like it’s a surveillance camera. I imagine it was installed after the previous shenanigans.

I don’t think any phone switching went on, but I don’t have a theory as to what they were comparing/looking at on each others phones.

Text messages?

 

[housewife]

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.

I thought the same.
After shooting the breeze, the sheriff locks the door (without the judge protesting).
Because now they are going to talk about "private" business.
They exchange phones (without the judge questioning or protesting) like they have done this before.

I agree, I think the phone exchange was just a quick way for them to prove to each other they weren't recording each other. I doubt they had much time to actually view any information before the shooting started, IMHO. I think the sheriff was just going through the motions to ensure the judge was alone in an area he could control. I think this was preplanned.

I'll be interested to know if the sheriff deleted anything off the judges phone.

 

[housewife]

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.

Exactly.

 

[sunshineray]

PROPOSED ORDER: GRANTED

This matter having come before the Court upon the joint motion of Plaintiffs
ADKINS and ESTATE OF HILL and Defendants, BEN FIELDS, Individually and
in his Official capacity as a Deputy Sheriff with the Letcher County Sheriff’s Department,
EASTERN KENTUCKY CORRECTIONS SERVICES INC. and MICKEY STINES,
LETCHER COUNTY SHERIFF by and through counsel, to stay this matter and amend the
scheduling order [R. 90] previously entered in this matter due to the tragic events yesterday
afternoon and the yet unknown exchange between Sheriff Stines and Judge Mullins which may
be relevant to this matter.

Additionally, the parties seek to extend due to the recently made
supplemental disclosures by Plaintiffs which may lead to the need to conduct additional
discovery.

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.kyed.97721/gov.uscourts.kyed.97721.117.1.pdf

"...supplemental disclosures by Plaintiffs...", aka the phones?

 

[MrsWatson]

I've also wondered, the deputy who was forcing the woman to have sex and at least some of it took place in the Judge's chambers: what if the Judge is the one who discovered it? Walked in on them?

spitballing.

 

[Ontario Mom]

I've also wondered, the deputy who was forcing the woman to have sex and at least some of it took place in the Judge's chambers: what if the Judge is the one who discovered it? Walked in on them?

spitballing.

Since the man who shot the judge wasn't the same man forcing women into sex in the judges chambers, I'm not seeing the connection.

 

[sunshineray]

Since the man who shot the judge wasn't the same man forcing women into sex in the judges chambers, I'm not seeing the connection.

Considering the plaintiffs in that case just filed for a stop where we are right now motion because other discovery may turn up in the recent events...it just makes me go hummmm. MO

 

[MrsWatson]

Since the man who shot the judge wasn't the same man forcing women into sex in the judges chambers, I'm not seeing the connection.

If the judge is the one who started the ball rolling on the lawsuit, firing the deputy, etc, my thought was that maybe the sheriff was angry with him for exposing it.

 

[Cool Cats]

I thought the same.
After shooting the breeze, the sheriff locks the door (without the judge protesting).
Because now they are going to talk about "private" business.
They exchange phones (without the judge questioning or protesting) like they have done this before.

I agree, I think the phone exchange was just a quick way for them to prove to each other they weren't recording each other. I doubt they had much time to actually view any information before the shooting started, IMHO. I think the sheriff was just going through the motions to ensure the judge was alone in an area he could control. I think this was preplanned.

I'll be interested to know if the sheriff deleted anything off the judges phone.

Pre planned?

Good point. Makes a difference for charges if it was premeditated VS in the heat of the monent.

One is first degree one is second degree.

2 Cents

 

[Knox]

Wow, that could be it!

Wouldn’t they have to unlock their phones to see anything first? Really wish we could see that part of the video.

 

[sunshineray]

If the judge is the one who started the ball rolling on the lawsuit, firing the deputy, etc, my thought was that maybe the sheriff was angry with him for exposing it.

One of the articles recently posted said the Sheriff fired him.

 

[whitelilac]

I think this was far more personal than the issue with the deputy. I also don't think this was preplanned. The Sheriff in my opinion went crazy with rage, suddenly I think, because of the 8 shots fired. If preplanned I think he would have coldly just shot once, which was enough to kill him.