FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) – A former Kentucky sheriff was charged Thursday in the slaying of a judge who was shot in his courtroom two months ago, shocking a small Appalachian community.
Shawn “Mickey” Stines has been indicted in the slaying of a government official by a Letcher County grand jury, prosecutors said. Stines was the sheriff of a northeastern Kentucky county when authorities say he entered District Judge Kevin Mullins’ home in Whitesburg, spoke to the judge and opened fire on September 19.
Mullins, 54, who held the judgeship for 15 years, died at the scene, and Stines surrendered without incident. Stines has pleaded not guilty to murder and is being held in a Kentucky county jail.
Stines, 43, stepped down as sheriff more than a week after the shooting and his replacement, Billy Jones, was sworn in on Oct. 1. Jones is a former high school resource officer in Letcher County.
Prosecutors did not comment after the indictment was returned Thursday in Letcher County. Attorneys for Stines did not immediately return calls and emails seeking comment.
Police have not released a motive for the shooting of two prominent people in the state on the Virginia border. Whitesburg is 146 miles (235 kilometers) southeast of Lexington, Kentucky.
A video showing the judge being shot was played in court last month. The video, without audio, showed a man identified by police as Stines pulling out a gun and shooting the judge as he sat at his desk. The man walked around the desk, pointed the gun at the judge – who had fallen to the floor – and fired again, it appeared. Some people in the courtroom cried while playing the video.
Mullins died of multiple gunshot wounds, a Kentucky State Police trooper said at the hearing.
The detective testified that Stines tried to call his daughter on Mullins’ cell phone shortly before the shooting. Investigators did not find a weapon on Mullins or in his rooms, the detective said.
On the day of the shooting, Mullins and Stines met for lunch with several other people at a restaurant near the courthouse, the detective said during the hearing.
Stines’ defense team said they left the case with more questions than answers and said they were conducting their own “similar investigation.”
Stines could face the death penalty for murder.