Kentucky - Judge killed, sheriff arrested in Letcher County courthouse shooting - Sep. 19, 2024 # 3

[FromGermany1]

And when you are building with brick; you use available mortar, and spread it as thick as possible while the supply lasts. Defense is embroidering the now popular
mental angle. May be the actual driver of the action, but what directed this mental break down into murder as done.
People go off the rails every day. Some go shoot crowds, drive vehicles into crowds, physically harm themselves. Sit and chant world endings.
This doesn't fit the typical average time from deposition stress to action. Why not do one of the ones involved in this lawsuit, the cause of the "stress"?
Why did he take it out on the judge, a friend for years...

After all, the illicit sex encounters took place in the judge's chambers. Why there, and did the judge know about it and was that the starting point for MS' paranoia?

 

[arielilane]

Sorry if both links were already posted, havent kept up with the thread.

The article went on to say that he explained the main concern centers around a civil lawsuit filed by Sabrina Adkins, who was sexually assaulted by former Sheriff’s Deputy Ben Fields. Stines was named in the lawsuit as a defendant for failing to adequately supervise Fields.

He also noted that Stines and Mullins were not good friends: “I think that their relationship was centered pretty much solely on their profession.”

Even so, Bartley claimed the alleged killing happened in the heat of the moment and was not premeditated.

https://fox56news.com/news/kentucky/shawn-stines-attorney-says-new-video-could-help-explain-possible-motive-in-deadly-letcher-county-shooting/

5/7/2025

https://fox56news.com/news/kentucky/kentucky-sheriff-reportedly-shoots-judge-a-look-at-the-timeline-investigation/

5/7/2025

 

[Elley Mae]

Just my opinion

I think the judge knew what was going on in the court house in his chamber.
Possible that information came out in the deposition that the judge knew.

Jmo

 

[OldAce]

Just my opinion

I think the judge knew what was going on in the court house in his chamber.
Possible that information came out in the deposition that the judge knew.

Jmo

Ah, now...Our opinions coincide, and I think some fact/info/connection came out that day.
Also I think a lot of this backtracking/rehashing of his mental state now is:
A. Trying to lay groundwork for discounting any beans he might spill in open court.
(Pros) Brand him crazy and store away. All safe

B. Paralleling as a clever way to get into open court to spill the beans.
(Def) Get in open court, he begins to spout: acts committed, names and addresses

? What was going on in the courthouse and how high further in the area did it extend.
I do not think the big deal avoided here is not sex in the courthouse, but access control and money. JMO.

 

[PrairieWind]

Ah, now...Our opinions coincide, and I think some fact/info/connection came out that day.
Also I think a lot of this backtracking/rehashing of his mental state now is:
A. Trying to lay groundwork for discounting any beans he might spill in open court.
(Pros) Brand him crazy and store away. All safe

B. Paralleling as a clever way to get into open court to spill the beans.
(Def) Get in open court, he begins to spout: acts committed, names and addresses

? What was going on in the courthouse and how high further in the area did it extend.
I do not think the big deal avoided here is not sex in the courthouse, but access control and money. JMO.

I"m not sure I understand any of this. Can you elaborate?

 

[Ontario Mom]

I"m not sure I understand any of this. Can you elaborate?

I think the OP was saying Stines learned some bombshell junk about the judge in the depo, and now both the prosecuation and the defense are trying to figure out how to use it (or more specifically what it did to Stines' mental state) to their advantage. I think.

If accurate, would make a lot of sense.

 

[OldAce]

I think the OP was saying Stines learned some bombshell junk about the judge in the depo, and now both the prosecuation and the defense are trying to figure out how to use it (or more specifically what it did to Stines' mental state) to their advantage. I think.

If accurate, would make a lot of sense.

Very good interpretation. There is/was larger rot. Stines was blindsided. It all came to a head. He settled it. If truth becomes publics knowledge, it will be clear.

Then there is that old ploy.. "Person was mentally impaired, and so despondent over the situation he committed suicide. I would not write Stines a life insurance policy right now.

 

[Luna20]

Ah, now...Our opinions coincide, and I think some fact/info/connection came out that day.
Also I think a lot of this backtracking/rehashing of his mental state now is:
A. Trying to lay groundwork for discounting any beans he might spill in open court.
(Pros) Brand him crazy and store away. All safe

B. Paralleling as a clever way to get into open court to spill the beans.
(Def) Get in open court, he begins to spout: acts committed, names and addresses

? What was going on in the courthouse and how high further in the area did it extend.
I do not think the big deal avoided here is not sex in the courthouse, but access control and money. JMO.

“I do not think the big deal avoided here is not sex in the courthouse”

I’m confused. Do you mean that you don’t think the big deal avoided here is sex in the courthouse?

“but access control and money”

What is “access control”?
Where does the money come in? Context?

 

[Luna20]

Ah, now...Our opinions coincide, and I think some fact/info/connection came out that day.
Also I think a lot of this backtracking/rehashing of his mental state now is:
A. Trying to lay groundwork for discounting any beans he might spill in open court.
(Pros) Brand him crazy and store away. All safe

B. Paralleling as a clever way to get into open court to spill the beans.
(Def) Get in open court, he begins to spout: acts committed, names and addresses

? What was going on in the courthouse and how high further in the area did it extend.
I do not think the big deal avoided here is not sex in the courthouse, but access control and money. JMO.

One more “Get in open court”?
What does that mean?

 

[OldAce]

“I do not think the big deal avoided here is not sex in the courthouse”

I’m confused. Do you mean that you don’t think the big deal avoided here is sex in the courthouse?

“but access control and money”

What is “access control”?
Where does the money come in? Context?

I am thinking that the "sex in the courthouse" was more of a byproduct opportunity seized by this deputy during a much more lucrative wider ranging operation. And this/that is what Stines came to know. He could not believe it, it was abhorrent to him. He checked, and confirmed.

 

[OldAce]

One more “Get in open court”?
What does that mean?

Best and safest place to accuse and offer names and rank of a criminal operation is in a courtroom; on the stand, with the jury and a hundred spectators watching. Safer than confined in a cell in an adjacent county, not knowing what LE might be involved.

 

[Luna20]

Best and safest place to accuse and offer names and rank of a criminal operation is in a courtroom; on the stand, with the jury and a hundred spectators watching. Safer than confined in a cell in an adjacent county, not knowing what LE might be involved.

There will be a trial in a “courtroom”. It’s not just the safest and best place, it’s the ONLY place to have a trial so I’m not sure what you mean about being confined in a cell in an adjacent county.

A courtroom and a cell are not one and the same. Each has its own purpose. To parallel them doesn’t make sense.

 

[Luna20]

I am thinking that the "sex in the courthouse" was more of a byproduct opportunity seized by this deputy during a much more lucrative wider ranging operation. And this/that is what Stines came to know. He could not believe it, it was abhorrent to him. He checked, and confirmed.

You are losing me. I’m genuinely trying to understand.

Can you be more specific about “a much more lucrative wider ranging operation” Like what?

 

[OldAce]

There will be a trial in a “courtroom”. It’s not just the safest and best place, it’s the ONLY place to have a trial so I’m not sure what you mean about being confined in a cell in an adjacent county.

A courtroom and a cell are not one and the same. Each has its own purpose. To parallel them doesn’t make sense.

There will be a trial in a “courtroom”. It’s not just the safest and best place, it’s the ONLY place to have a trial so I’m not sure what you mean about being confined in a cell in an adjacent county.

A courtroom and a cell are not one and the same. Each has its own purpose. To parallel them doesn’t make sense.

Best and safest place to accuse and offer names and rank of a criminal operation is in a courtroom;

And I believe Stines is being held in and adjoining countys jail

 

[Kudzuu]

<modsnip: Quoted post was removed>

Stines is being held in Leslie County

I think what OldAce is trying to to say is it will be safer to accuse and offer names of people in a courtroom and not the Letcher County jail. Stines was moved to Leslie County to await trial.

The local Letcher County criminal system like many rural county criminal systems are corrupt IMO. If Stines knows of a criminal illegal operation is going on and starts talking or accusing people he might end up dead. He will be safer in a courtroom.

Everyone knows everyone in these small towns. They are also private and tend to settle their differences themselves. IMO Stines was totally having issues up to the murder and snapped.

Why? Something to go to jail for.
Maybe he killed the judge to keep him from talking. And maybe to keep himself alive.

He's not in Letcher County for a good reason.

 

[cenazoic]

The local Letcher County criminal system like many rural county criminal systems are corrupt IMO.

I understand what you’re saying and agree with the broad strokes, but I just don’t see this as a credible motive for murdering a judge.

He's not in Letcher County for a good reason.

Starting with the most obvious, the appearance of conflict of interest.

 

[Kudzuu]

@cenazoic

I agree with you.
I just look at this through a Kentucky lens. I have lived and worked in Appalachia. I grew up in a rural county South of Louisville on the Ohio River. I have experienced how LE operates. Kentucky has something like 124 counties and political jobs like mayors, judges, sheriffs etc are elected officials. And pay well. Who you are and who you know means a lot.

It's a cultural thing. I live in a city now and I struggle because my ingrained values are way out of date. Yes Stines murdered Mullins in cold blood. The reason we don't know. But I'd bet it is complicated. And I'd bet Mullins who is not a native of Letcher County miscalculated something. He probably did something that crossed a line. Perhaps more than once.

It was a crime yes. But there's a saying I've heard all my life "some people need killing". All that means is someone repeatedly got away with breaking a law until another person stopped it. Just so happens they were a judge and sheriff. Otherwise this would never have made the news.

Oddly, the judge's wife has been silent. At least I haven't heard anything. If my husband was viciously murdered I would be outraged. Probably she doesn't want the attention.

It's complicated. One of my best friends moved to be my neighbor in 7th grade. The family was always outsiders. My family has been there for at least 6 generations. Very different from living in a city where I don't know all my neighbors.

Probably more than you wanted to know!

 

[OldAce]

@cenazoic

I agree with you.
I just look at this through a Kentucky lens. I have lived and worked in Appalachia. I grew up in a rural county South of Louisville on the Ohio River. I have experienced how LE operates. Kentucky has something like 124 counties and political jobs like mayors, judges, sheriffs etc are elected officials. And pay well. Who you are and who you know means a lot.

It's a cultural thing. I live in a city now and I struggle because my ingrained values are way out of date. Yes Stines murdered Mullins in cold blood. The reason we don't know. But I'd bet it is complicated. And I'd bet Mullins who is not a native of Letcher County miscalculated something. He probably did something that crossed a line. Perhaps more than once.

It was a crime yes. But there's a saying I've heard all my life "some people need killing". All that means is someone repeatedly got away with breaking a law until another person stopped it. Just so happens they were a judge and sheriff. Otherwise this would never have made the news.

Oddly, the judge's wife has been silent. At least I haven't heard anything. If my husband was viciously murdered I would be outraged. Probably she doesn't want the attention.

It's complicated. One of my best friends moved to be my neighbor in 7th grade. The family was always outsiders. My family has been there for at least 6 generations. Very different from living in a city where I don't know all my neighbors.

Probably,more than you wanted to know!

Bingo on all the points..

 

[FromGermany1]

It was a crime yes. But there's a saying I've heard all my life "some people need killing". All that means is someone repeatedly got away with breaking a law until another person stopped it. Just so happens they were a judge and sheriff. Otherwise this would never have made the news.

^^ This maybe. MOO

 

[Maat99]

Best and safest place to accuse and offer names and rank of a criminal operation is in a courtroom;

And I believe Stines is being held in and adjoining countys jail

This doesn’t make any sense. The safest thing to do is to get the information out into the public as soon as possible. That is how you remove the motivation to murder you.