A former Kentucky sheriff charged with killing a county judge remained in an “active state of psychosis” days after the shooting and battled with jail staff, who had to use pepper spray on him, according to recently filed court documents.
Former Letcher County Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines is charged with killing District Judge Kevin Mullins in his chambers nearly a year ago, shocking the small eastern Kentucky community that twice elected Stines as sheriff. Widely viewed security camera footage from Mullins’ chambers shows a man police identified as Stines pointing a gun and firing at Mullins.
The ex-sheriff has pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder of a public official. Stines’ lawyers filed a transcript this week of the grand jury testimony by a state police detective in the case, along with other documents.
Stines’ lawyers are seeking to have his mental evaluation by state doctors unsealed. They have argued that Stines suffered from “extreme emotional disturbance” prior to the shooting.
In a document written a few days after the shooting, a social worker who met with Stines in jail said he had remained in “an active state of psychosis” and didn’t appear to understand the criminal charge against him. Stines had “episodes of combativeness which has required pepper spray,” the document said.
State Police Det. Clayton Stamper detailed the moments before and after the Sept. 19 shooting to the grand jury, which was included in court filings this week.
Shortly after the shooting, a deputy saw Stines walking on the street away from the courthouse with a “blank look on his face” and he ignored the deputy’s questions, Stamper told the grand jury. Two other officers entered the courthouse and prepared to look for an active shooter when Stines “walked right in behind them” and told the officers, “there’s nobody else, it was me,” Stamper testified.
Officers responding to the shooting found Mullins on the floor of his office with several gunshot wounds, Stamper said. The detective said he reviewed video from Mullins’ chamber, which showed Stines asking four people to leave Mullins’ office a few minutes before the shooting. It shows Stines getting up from a chair to check several doors, and then he borrows the judge’s phone, Stamper said.
Stamper said Stines initially fired two shots at Mullins, reached around the desk, fired another shot, and then as he was leaving, reached under the desk and fired six more shots.
Stamper said police investigated whether there was any involvement between Mullins and Stines’ family, including probing Mullins’ phone, but Stines’ family members told police they had no contact at all with Mullins and police found no evidence of any connection.
Stines resigned as sheriff days after the shooting and is jailed in eastern Kentucky without bond.
Prosecutors asked a judge this week to move the trial out of the county, where both Stines and Mullins were well-known public figures. Stines’ attorneys objected to the move, arguing that he could still get a fair trial in his home county. No trial date has been set.
