WOW Just released body cam footage.
A couple of timestamps:
2:35 - 911 call saying the judge has been shot, then dashcam footage and audio of a trooper responding to the call and telling someone over the radio that the call he’s responding to is apparently Judge Mullins being shot. He laughs after saying that, possibly awkward laughter at the shock of a judge in a small town being shot.
3:10 - body cam footage with audio. They talk about securing the crime scene and separating witnesses, but IMO they seem a little flustered about trying to separate people
4:10 - dash cam footage showing a couple of women trying to get into the courthouse, upset, but being blocked. Then dash cam footage of Stines being guided to the car. He asks the LEOs to make sure there are no weapons in the car, then says something about them leaving him in the car to die and that he can’t “get up in there, come on now.” He says he can’t get in the car, the “cuffs are way too tight, come on now.” He says they have carbon monoxide in there. He asks them to be fair and repeatedly says “come on now.” IMO his pleading sounds like a captive in a mob movie who thinks he’s about to be executed. He starts calling some of the LEOs by name and asks them to loosen the cuffs, can they crack a window?, be fair to him now. They agree to turn the A/C on and he says it’s hot and he can’t breathe. Per the timestamps on the footage, he was in the car for a maximum of 2 minutes at this point, and the door is not yet closed at this point.
7:00 - dash cam footage from the drive. Stines continues to say come on now guys. “Make sure I get to the jail.” The troopers try and engage him about why he did it. After that, he pauses and then says “come on now guys, what’re you doing” again. Trooper says I’m just asking you…(no response)…was it something to do with your family or something like that? They ask again later. They say they are almost to the jail and ask again if there’s anything he wants to say? No response still. Then, Stines sounds worried and repeats “this is not the jail,” and the trooper tells him that are going to the jail. Once parked, he asks who he is being passed off to, the troopers say he’s not being passed off, they were just following some other guy to the jail because they didn’t know the way. He asks for them to be fair again. The trooper asks again if this has anything to do with his family. A pause, and then he says “don’t put me in that Lesley County van.”
12:10 - a statement from Stines’s lawyers: The recently released footage affirms our belief that our client felt there was an imminent threat to his family and himself. There was an extreme amount of pressure placed upon him as a result of the pending civil case and it’s potential to reveal matter within the courthouse. The footage shows that our client perceived a genuine threat, and its impact upon his mental health is apparent.”
13:40 - audio from Adkins claiming there is footage of “stuff” in the judge’s chambers, and that she has seen one of the videos, and in that video Judge Mullins has sex with an unknown woman. She says his face is clear.
IMO the silence after the trooper’s questions make Stines’s pleading seem disingenuous. If he is truly delusional and thinks that he was protecting his family, and thinks that these troopers are going to do something to him, I think he would be trying something to change his situation other than repeating “be fair to me.” If he thinks these guys are going to kill him, and they’re asking him about something, and he’s scrambling for his safety, and he’s terrified, why would he be ignoring their questions? Delusions don’t make rational sense, but they still have an internal consistency. To me, it sounds like he has just given himself a few phrases to try and make it look a certain way—to try and make it look like he is afraid or isn’t sane—but he manages to give zero information about what he is afraid of. It’s all generic.
