Kentucky Sheriff Accused of Fatally Shooting Judge Pleads Not Guilty

Sheriff Shawn Stines made his first appearance in court as a defendant in the case that has shaken the small rural community of Letcher County, Ky.

A Kentucky sheriff charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of a judge pleaded not guilty on Wednesday in a case that has shaken the small rural community of Letcher County.

Sheriff Shawn Stines, also known as Mickey, made his first court appearance as a defendant in the case at his virtual arraignment. He is accused of fatally shooting Judge Kevin Mullins last Thursday in his chambers in the Letcher County Courthouse in Whitesburg in southeastern Kentucky, not far from the Virginia border.

Law enforcement officials have not disclosed a motive, and many details about the shooting were still unknown. The hearing before Chief Regional District Judge H. Rupert Wilhoit did not yield any clues.

During the 10-minute proceeding, Sheriff Stines appeared onscreen standing between Josh Miller, a public defender, and Danny Clark, the county jailer for Leslie County, where Sheriff Stines is being held.

The fact that Sheriff Stines was appearing virtually from Leslie County while the judge was presiding in person about two hours away in Carter County underscored the complicated nature of the case.

Matt Butler, the commonwealth’s attorney for Letcher County, recused himself from the case because he had worked closely with Sheriff Stines, and Judge Mullins was his brother-in-law. As a result, the Kentucky attorney general and Jackie Steele, the commonwealth attorney for two other eastern Kentucky counties, are prosecuting the case.

Much of Wednesday’s hearing focused on Sheriff Stines’s legal representation, after Mr. Steele questioned why a public defender was present with him. Mr. Steele said that Mr. Miller’s agency, the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy, had not been formally appointed as Sheriff Stines’s counsel, and that because the sheriff was not indigent, he did not qualify for a public defender.

Judge Wilhoit then asked the sheriff about his finances and assets. Sheriff Stines said he owned a home, as well as real estate in Tennessee that he purchased for $45,000. He added that his annual income was $115,000.

Explaining his representation, Mr. Miller noted that defending a capital murder case as this one could cost several hundreds of thousand of dollars, and that Sheriff Stines was about to lose his job.

“It’s my understanding that he is in the process of losing his job as sheriff of Letcher County, obviously, and will not have income going forward,” Mr. Miller said. “His family is not prepared for this eventuality.”

Judge Wilhoit then allowed Mr. Miller’s office to continue representing Sheriff Stines through his next court appearance — a preliminary hearing

scheduled for Tuesday in yet another venue, Morgan County, about an hour and a half north of Letcher County. But the judge added that the court may require Sheriff Stines to hire his own attorney afterward.

The Kentucky State Police said last week that Sheriff Stines, 43, and Judge Mullins, who was 54, argued briefly in the judge’s chambers before the sheriff shot him multiple times. Sheriff Stines then surrendered to the police, and the Letcher County Courthouse has since remained closed.

The mystery over what happened in the lead-up to the shooting has left residents of Letcher County — a tight-knit Appalachian community of about 21,000 that once thrived on the coal industry — grasping for answers.

Mike Watts, the county’s circuit court clerk, saw the two men head to lunch together hours before the shooting. He said he had worked alongside both men for years in the courthouse, where Mr. Stines was a bailiff before he was elected sheriff, and thought they were all friends.

Mr. Watts said a security camera captured the moments leading up to gunshots in Judge Mullins’s chambers. But Mr. Watts added that he has not watched the recording himself and declined to discuss what the footage depicted.

Judge Mullins was appointed to the role in 2009 to fill a vacancy on the bench, and won re-election for subsequent full terms. Before that, he had served as the assistant commonwealth attorney in Letcher County.

Sheriff Stines was first elected to the post in 2018 and then re-elected in 2022. Earlier this month, he was deposed as part of an ongoing case involving a former deputy accused of sexually abusing a former inmate. The lawsuit accuses Sheriff Stines of “deliberate indifference in failing to adequately train and supervise” his former deputy, whom he fired. At the time, Sheriff Stines denied any wrongdoing to The Lexington Herald Leader.

Gov. Andy Beshear now wants the sheriff to resign by Friday.

Isabelle Taft and Emily Cochrane contributed reporting.