Ex-sheriff accused of shooting judge in chambers says state skirted law, should toss murder case: report
The attorneys representing the former Letcher County, Kentucky sheriff who stands accused of murdering the county's judge in his chambers have filed a new motion to have their client's indictment dismissed, according to a report.
Former sheriff Shawn "Mickey" Stines' lawyers say the state failed to record a November 2024 meeting between state prosecutors and the Letcher County grand jury that eventually indicted Stines, according to a court filing obtained by KAVE.
The filing says the grand jury was "deprived of information known to the Commonwealth [of Kentucky], sought in question by grand jurors, but not disclosed."
Stines allegedly shot District Judge Kevin Mullins in Mullins' own chambers in the Letcher County Courthouse on Sept. 19, 2024. The incident, which rocked the tiny rural town, was caught on a surveillance camera. Both Stines and Mullins were well-known pillars of the community for decades.
Specifically, the motion filed by attorney duo Jeremy and Kerri Bartley says the grand jury was denied information about an ongoing civil lawsuit, in which Stines is named as a defendant, that could provide context for the shooting.
The lawyers also claim that testimony before the grand jury from Kentucky State Police Detective Clayton Stamper, the lead investigator in the case, was unfairly prejudicial.
Stines' attorneys claim that allegations of sexual abuse plagued the Letcher County Courthouse.
Just three days before the shooting, Stines was deposed in a civil case against his former deputy, Ben Fields, who is currently serving prison time for raping a woman inside the courthouse in exchange for removing her ankle monitor while she was on home confinement during criminal proceedings.
Jeremy Bartley told Fox News Digital that the sheriff had threatened to keep his mouth shut in the civil case, and that he feared for the safety of his wife and daughter.
"On the day that this [shooting] happened, my client had attempted multiple times to contact his wife and daughter, and he firmly believed that they were in danger," Bartley said. "He believed that they were in danger because of what he knew to have happened within the courthouse. And there was pressure, and there were threats made to him to sort of keep him in line, to keep them from saying more than these folks wanted him to say."
"I think one of the big things is that my client felt there had been pressure placed on him not to say too much during the deposition, and not to talk about things that happened within the courthouse, particularly in the judge's chambers," Bartley said.
Body camera footage from the immediate aftermath of the shooting shows a paranoid Stines afraid for his life while being questioned by police.
"Come on, be fair to me now," Stines can be heard saying to Stamper. "I seen the look… Y'all come on now, don't kill me. Don't punish me, you know. Let's be fair. Don't shoot me, nothing like that."
"Y'all are gonna kill me, aren't you?" he asked. "Y'all are gonna kill me, I know you are. Let's just get it over with. Let's just go."
Bartley is planning an insanity defense.
Experts have denounced that defense as "frivolous."
Fox News Digital reached out to Bartley and prosecutor Jackie Steele for comment.
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