“Time TV”
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Letcher County Sheriff Shawn M. Stines, 43, was arrested on the county courthouse in Whitesburg Thursday on suspicion of fatally capturing District Choose Kevin Mullins, 54, in Mullins’ chambers.
Stines, who authorities say turned himself in after the capturing, shall be seem by video from the Leslie County jail – the place he’s being held, a pair counties west of the place he was sheriff and the choose was killed – throughout Wednesday morning’s arraignment. The listening to itself shall be performed by a choose in a Carter County courthouse, about 100 miles from the crime scene, in response to court docket officers, with the Letcher County courthouse having been closed for days due to the killing.
Stines’ job made him answerable for safety at county courthouses, together with the private safety of judges, in response to the Kentucky Sheriff’s Affiliation. He’s now dealing with a first-degree homicide cost, and it’s unclear who will take his place as sheriff.
The tragedy has deeply shaken the small, tightly knit group of Letcher County, as residents grapple with unanswered questions on what led to the argument between two high-profile elected officers in a case that has despatched shockwaves by means of the world.
What transpired within the choose’s chambers moments earlier than the deadly capturing that afternoon continues to be being investigated, authorities mentioned. Different individuals had been within the constructing when the choose was shot however nobody else was inside his chambers, Kentucky State Police Trooper Matt Gayheart has mentioned.
Cameras had been contained in the constructing, and all witnesses shall be interviewed, mentioned Gayheart, who harassed that is the primary time a tragedy “of this magnitude” has bothered the county.
Stines and Mullins ate lunch collectively hours earlier than the capturing, Circuit Court docket Clerk Mike Watts advised “Time TV” affiliate WKYT.
“The entire county is simply devastated by this,” Watts advised WKYT, nodding to the void left within the native justice system. “We’ve not solely misplaced our sheriff and district choose, however I’ve misplaced two private buddies that I labored with each day.”
Simply days earlier than the capturing, on September 16, Stines was deposed in an ongoing federal lawsuit involving a former deputy who coerced a lady to have intercourse with him in 2021, “Time TV” beforehand reported. The lawsuit alleges the sexual allegations towards the deputy “weren’t appropriately investigated by Sheriff Stines,” who fired the deputy in 2022.
Jonathan Shaw, the legal professional representing Stines in his official capability within the lawsuit, advised “Time TV” in an e-mail he didn’t have the authority to talk on Stines’ private behalf within the federal go well with or the homicide case.
Many residents knew the 2 outstanding figures in the neighborhood, and buddies of each the sheriff and choose mentioned they had been surprised by the killing and struggling to grasp why it had occurred.
The quiet, seemingly routine day in court docket turned chaotic when police obtained a 911 name simply earlier than 3 p.m. Thursday reporting photographs fired from contained in the courthouse constructing, state police mentioned.
Listening to studies of an lively shooter within the courthouse, court docket safety officer Wallace Kincer and Watts, the circuit court docket clerk, leapt into motion, main attorneys and court docket employees away from unknown hazard that lurked within the chambers, in response to Matt Butler, commonwealth’s legal professional for Letcher County.
Concern rattled by means of the county as college students in Letcher County Public Colleges had been positioned on lockdown shortly earlier than 3:30 p.m.
Mullins was discovered with a number of gunshot wounds and was pronounced useless on the scene, police mentioned.
Butler recused himself and his workplace from the sheriff’s prosecution as a result of he and the choose married two sisters and their kids act extra like siblings than cousins, he mentioned in a press release final week.
“Our group has suffered an act of violence that seems to be between two males that I’ve labored with for seventeen years and cherished like brothers,” Butler mentioned in a social media submit.
Kentucky Legal professional Normal Russell Coleman’s workplace will work with Jackie Steele, the Commonwealth’s Legal professional assigned to the case, as particular prosecutors on the case, he mentioned.
Some residents, together with Butler, are calling for extra enough safety protocols within the courthouse, reminiscent of putting in a steel detector and including safety on the entrance.
“The Letcher County Courthouse is among the final which you can stroll into with out a steel detector or safety on the entrance door,” mentioned Butler, who known as it “unacceptable.”
Mullins is survived by his spouse and two daughters, his obituary states. “He died in his chambers of the courthouse the place he spent his profession working to assist individuals,” the obituary mentioned.
As “a passionate advocate for restoration efforts throughout Kentucky,” Mullins labored to deal with the opioid epidemic by offering entry to remedy and helped these affected by substance use issues, psychological sickness and disabilities, in response to his obituary.
“Time TV”’s Andy Rose, Dalia Faheid and Dakin Andone contributed to this report.
