Kentucky sheriff charged with murder of judge had no plan to kill and was caught in ‘heat of passion’: lawyer

Shawn “Mickey” Stines, the Kentucky sheriff accused of shooting a county judge in his office, did not plan the murder and was not in his right mind, according to his attorney.

“It wasn’t something that was planned and happened in the heat of passion,” defense attorney Jeremy Bartley told People. “For us, the highest level of criminal liability should be manslaughter, based on the partial defense of extreme emotional disturbance.”

A video of the shooting, played without sound during a preliminary hearing on Oct. 1, allegedly showed Letcher County Sheriff Stines shooting District Judge Kevin Mullins multiple times on Sept. 19 as he sat at his desk.

The sheriff, the judge’s longtime colleague and friend, allegedly continued firing after Mullins fell to the ground.

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“We believe there had to be a compelling reason why Sheriff Stines felt he had to do something,” Bartley said. “We look forward to receiving more information and getting started[ning] to tell his story.

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Kentucky State Police Detective Clayton Stamper testified at the preliminary hearing that the two men had been eating lunch with a group in the hours before the shooting, according to the Louisville Courier Journal.

“I was told that the judge made a statement to Mickey: ‘Do we have to meet privately in my chambers?'” Stamper testified, the Associated Press reported.

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According to Stamper, Stines tried to call his daughter on his own phone, then on Mullins’ phone – according to the AP, Stines’ daughter was saved in Mullins’ contacts.

“It could be, but I don’t know for sure,” Stamper said when asked if Stines was motivated to shoot Mullins because of what he saw on the judge’s phone.

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“I spoke to him, but he didn’t say anything about why this happened,” Stamper said, according to the AP. “But he was calm…Basically he just said, ‘Treat me fairly.'”

When Stines was taken into custody, he allegedly told another officer, “They’re trying to kidnap my wife and child,” Stamper said.

The shooting in the town of Whitesburg has rocked the Letcher County, Kentucky, community, where Stines served as a bailiff at the Mullins courthouse before becoming sheriff in 2018.

“We’re all shocked about this,” Garnard Kincer Jr., Mullins’ friend and former mayor of Jenkins, told People. “It practically immobilized us. We just can’t believe it happened.”

Stines resigned as sheriff last week but pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. At the Oct. 2 hearing, a judge concluded there was enough evidence to move forward with the case.

Bartley could not be reached for comment at press time.

Original source of the article: Kentucky sheriff charged with murder of judge had no plan to kill and was caught in ‘heat of passion’: lawyer