Lawyer for Sheriff Who Killed Judge Says It Wasn't Planned, Will Use 'Extreme Emotional Disturbance' Defense

Mar. 15, 2025

Judge Kevin Mullins (left); Former Letcher County Ky. Sheriff Shawn ‘Mickey’ Stines.Photo:Kentucky Court of Justice via AP; AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley

Kentucky Court of Justice via AP; AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley

A lawyer for Shawn “Mickey” Stines, the Kentucky sheriff accused of killing a district judge, says the fatal shooting wasn’t planned.

“It was not something that was planned and occurred in the heat of passion,” defense attorney Jeremy Bartley tells PEOPLE. “For us, the highest level of culpability should be manslaughter based on the partial defense of extreme emotional disturbance.”

Letcher County Sheriff Stines, 43, is accused of killing 54-year-old District JudgeKevin Mullinsin the judge’s chambers in the city of Whitesburg on Sept. 19.

Avideo of the shootingwas played during a preliminary hearing on Tuesday, Oct. 1. The short video clip, which did not include audio, appeared to show Stines firing at Mullins multiple times while the judge was sitting at his desk and then after when he fell to the floor.

“We believe there had to be a compelling reason for Sheriff Stines to feel like he had to take action,” Bartley says. “We are looking forward to obtaining additional information and begin to tell his story.”

Letcher County County Courthouse.AP Photo/Randy Sartin

AP Photo/Randy Sartin

The case has rocked the small community of Letcher County, Ky., where Stines and Mullins were longtime friends and colleagues. Stines served as the bailiff in Mullins' court before he became sheriff in 2018, per theLouisville Courier Journal.

“We’re all in state of shock over it,” Mullins’ friend and former mayor of Jenkins Garnard Kincer Jr. tells PEOPLE. “It practically immobilized us. We just can’t believe it happened.”

Before the shooting, Kentucky State Police Detective Clayton Stamper testified during the preliminary hearing that the two men had eaten lunch earlier that day with a group of people, per theCourier Journal.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up forPEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletterfor breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

“I was told that the judge made a statement to Mickey about, ‘Do we need to meet private in my chambers?’” Stamper testified, according to theAssociated Press.

The shooting allegedly occurred after Stines attempted to call his daughter on his own phone and then on Mullins’ phone, Stamper said, perAP.

Sheriff Shawn ‘Mickey’ Stines (right) and his attorney, James Bartley (left).AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley

AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley

“I was told that Sheriff Stines had tried to call his daughter, and he had tried to call his daughter from the judge’s phone also,” testified Stamper, perCNN.

Stamper said Stines’ daughter’s phone number was stored on Mullins’ phone, perAP.

When questioned if the killing happened because of what Stines might have seen on the phone, Stamper responded: “It could be, but I don’t know that for a fact,” theAPreported.

The two men had eaten lunch earlier that day with a handful of people, Stamper testified, per theCourier Journal.

Stamper said Stines didn’t divulge a motive behind the slaying.

“I talked to him, but he didn’t say nothing about why this had happened," Stamper testified, per the AP. “But he was calm. … Basically, all he said was, ‘Treat me fair.’”

Stines, who has pleaded not guilty, resigned last week as sheriff.

At the end of the hearing, a judge determined there was enough evidence for the first-degree murder case to go to a grand jury, per CNN.

source: people.com