Kentucky sheriff accused of fatally shooting a judge in his chambers is set for arraignment today

By Emma Tucker, CNN

(CNN) — The Kentucky sheriff who authorities say shot and killed a prominent district judge in his chambers after an argument between the two men last week is set to be arraigned in the case Wednesday.

Letcher County Sheriff Shawn M. Stines, 43, was arrested at the county courthouse in Whitesburg Thursday on suspicion of fatally shooting District Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, in Mullins’ chambers.

Stines, who authorities say turned himself in after the shooting, will be appear by video from the Leslie County jail – where he’s being held, a couple counties west of where he was sheriff and the judge was killed – during Wednesday morning’s arraignment. The hearing itself will be conducted by a judge in a Carter County courthouse, about 100 miles from the crime scene, according to court officials, with the Letcher County courthouse having been closed for days because of the killing.

Stines’ job made him responsible for security at county courthouses, including the personal security of judges, according to the Kentucky Sheriff’s Association. He’s now facing a first-degree murder charge, and it’s unclear who will take his place as sheriff.

The tragedy has deeply shaken the small, tightly knit community of Letcher County, as residents grapple with unanswered questions about what led to the argument between two high-profile elected officials in a case that has sent shockwaves through the area.

What transpired in the judge’s chambers moments before the fatal shooting that afternoon is still being investigated, authorities said. Other people were in the building when the judge was shot but no one else was inside his chambers, Kentucky State Police Trooper Matt Gayheart has said.

Cameras were inside the building, and all witnesses will be interviewed, said Gayheart, who stressed this is the first time a tragedy “of this magnitude” has afflicted the county.

Stines and Mullins ate lunch together hours before the shooting, Circuit Court Clerk Mike Watts told CNN affiliate WKYT.

“The whole county is just devastated by this,” Watts told WKYT, nodding to the void left in the local justice system. “We’ve not only lost our sheriff and district judge, but I’ve lost two personal friends that I worked with daily.”

Just days before the shooting, on September 16, Stines was deposed in an ongoing federal lawsuit involving a former deputy who coerced a woman to have sex with him in 2021, CNN previously reported. The lawsuit alleges the sexual allegations against the deputy “were not appropriately investigated by Sheriff Stines,” who fired the deputy in 2022.

Jonathan Shaw, the attorney representing Stines in his official capacity in the lawsuit, told CNN in an email he did not have the authority to speak on Stines’ personal behalf in the federal suit or the murder case.

An act of violence between 2 men ‘I loved like brothers,’ county attorney says

Many residents knew the two prominent figures in the community, and friends of both the sheriff and judge said they were stunned by the killing and struggling to understand why it had happened.

The quiet, seemingly routine day in court turned chaotic when police received a 911 call just before 3 p.m. Thursday reporting shots fired from inside the courthouse building, state police said.

Hearing reports of an active shooter in the courthouse, court security officer Wallace Kincer and Watts, the circuit court clerk, leapt into action, leading attorneys and court staff away from unknown danger that lurked in the chambers, according to Matt Butler, commonwealth’s attorney for Letcher County.

Fear rattled through the county as students in Letcher County Public Schools were placed on lockdown shortly before 3:30 p.m.

Mullins was found with multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Butler recused himself and his office from the sheriff’s prosecution because he and the judge married two sisters and their children act more like siblings than cousins, he said in a statement last week.

“Our community has suffered an act of violence that appears to be between two men that I have worked with for seventeen years and loved like brothers,” Butler said in a social media post.

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman’s office will work with Jackie Steele, the Commonwealth’s Attorney assigned to the case, as special prosecutors on the case, he said.

Some residents, including Butler, are calling for more adequate security protocols in the courthouse, such as installing a metal detector and adding security at the entrance.

“The Letcher County Courthouse is one of the last that you can walk into without a metal detector or security at the front door,” said Butler, who called it “unacceptable.”

Mullins is survived by his wife and two daughters, his obituary states. “He died in his chambers of the courthouse where he spent his career working to help people,” the obituary said.

As “a passionate advocate for recovery efforts across Kentucky,” Mullins worked to address the opioid epidemic by providing access to treatment and helped those affected by substance use disorders, mental illness and disabilities, according to his obituary.

CNN’s Andy Rose, Dalia Faheid and Dakin Andone contributed to this report.

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