Police are currently working to establish. Why a Kentucky sheriff gunned down a district judge on allegations. The two had a pre-scouting battle within the judge’s office.
Authorities discovered Letcher County District Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, around 3 p.m. Thursday with several gunshot wounds to the chest. He died at the scene at the Letcher County Courthouse in Whitesburg, Kentucky. Said Kentucky State Police Trooper Matt Gayheart at a Thursday press briefing.
Judge, Letcher County government
Letcher County Sheriff Shawn M. Stines, 43, shot Mullins after an argument that ensued inside the judge’s chamber. Authorities later launched a preliminary probe, and state police have now charged Stines with first-degree murder.
Stines later surrendered after the shooting incident and police captured him at the scene on Thursday with little resistance. This man is willing to assist the authority in whichever way he can, Gayheart said. Authorities still haven’t picked a replacement for Stines. Who got arrested after serving as County Sheriff for about eight years. Guess we’ll have to wait and see who steps into those boots. Authorities have yet to announce any potential candidates or interim appointments.
“This community is quite a closed one, and this is something that has left us shaken,” said Gayheart on the shooting.
Oddly, other people were in the building at the time. But none were in the judge’s chamber, and the other individual was not injured. Gayheart stated that there is no threat to the public.
Judge, Letcher County
Police have yet to reveal what led to the shots being fired. The reason for the shooting is still unclear. Gayheart said, and described the event as “incidental.”
“We’re still trying to get answers to what led up to the actual shooting itself and the moments before the shooting,” Gayheart said.
The shooting occurred less than two weeks after an earlier incident in the southeast, where a shooting threatened five people at an interstate in Kentucky.
“This world is too violent, and I hope when we wake up, tomorrow will be a better day,” said Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear on social media.
Here’s what we know about the two men, the killing, and the investigation so far:
The facts learned about Mullins and Stines
Mullins, a Jackhorn Louisville native, has served as a district judge for Kentucky’s 47th District Court in Letcher County since his appointment by then-Governor Steve Beshear in 2009, according to AP. He first got elected a year later. Then won elections again in 2014, 2018, and the recently concluded 2022 elections.
Kentucky nonprofit SOAR reported that the district judge started advocating for substance abuse treatment. According to the Associated Press, he became involved in the justice system in 2010, and through his efforts, he referred a hundred individuals to inpatient drug treatment centers.
SOAR, a Purdue University research center involved in opioid addiction treatment said that Addiction Recovery Care, an operator of residential. Outpatient drug and alcohol addiction treatment in Eastern and Central Kentucky since 2009, started cooperating with Mullins in 2018 to ensure that patients in the courthouse have faster access to treatment through a special community representative. He was also a founding member of the opioid recovery support team.
Voters elected Stines sheriff for the first time in November 2018 and then re-elected him on November 11, 2022. This happened a couple of weeks ago. The sheriff talked about the accomplishments of the agency as well as the latest narcotics operations.
People in Letcher Count responded to Stines’s message positively. As the below message stated on the official Facebook page of the Letcher County Sheriff’s Office on September 4. Thank you to the awesome citizens of Letcher County for allowing us to serve you. Providing us with information to help catch fugitives and assisting us with getting drugs off our streets.”
A scene at the judge’s office
Details of how the fatal shooting happened—and what the dispute between the two men was over—are still unknown, state police disclosed on Thursday.
“It is for the record that it was an argument between the two that led up. Gayheart said, “But what really happened before the guns were fired. Those are some areas where we are still looking for answers.”
The police also had cameras inside the building and all the witnesses, who will be interrogated, Gayheart said on Thursday.
On Thursday, Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman signaled that his office will join Jackie Steele. The Commonwealth’s attorney for the 27th Judicial Circuit, as special prosecutors in the case.
“We will make sure this is complete, and we are going to seek justice,” Coleman said.
As Gayheart stated, Mullins’ body will be taken to the medical examiner’s office..
The Kentucky Court of Justice has learned of the “tragic” occurrence in Letcher County, officials said in a Facebook post. “We have to provide the bodies to the coroner and are in contact. With the local law application agencies, including the Kentucky State Police. Provide all the necessary assistance in these dark times,” the statement read.
Death unnerves residents of tiny Kentucky town
In a statement, Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice Laurance B. VanMeter said he was shocked by Mullins’ killing.
“My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and everyone in Letcher County trying to come to terms with and grieving this tragedy,” VanMeter said.
Matt Butler, the commonwealth’s attorney for Letcher County, will not be able to prosecute the sheriff because his wife is the sister of Mullins’ wife, the public prosecutor explained in a statement on Thursday.
About the sheriff and the judge, he said they were “two men that I have worked with for seventeen years and loved like brothers.”
“It is local: here everyone knows each other, as, for example, the residents of Letcher County. Butler said, ‘Judge Mullins and I married a pair of sisters, and our children are first cousins, similar to their siblings.
“Kindly extend your prayers towards the family of Judge Mullins and my kids, Ian and Ivy, who have been crying and pleading to have a feat of their uncle.” He said. “I have no words that can explain the level of worry that people from my community are going through.”
According to Kentucky Courts officials on Thursday, circuit and district courts. The circuit court clerk’s office will remain shut down until it can function again due to the shooting.
The schools in Letcher County and southeast Kentucky community and technical college. The Associated Press reported that they also went on temporary lockdown after the shooting.
Kentucky Auditor Allison Ball wrote in a post on X that she was “praying for Letcher County and District Judge Kevin Mullins.”
“May God protect this community and all the participants of the shooting,” Ball added.