A judge in rural Kentucky shot and killed in his courthouse chambers Thursday, and the local sheriff was charged with murder. A preliminary investigation indicates Letcher County Sheriff Shawn Stines shot District Judge Kevin Mullins multiple times after what authorities termed a "personal' argument, according to Kentucky State Police. Mullins, who held the judgeship for 15 years, died at the scene, and Stines surrendered without incident. Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice Laurance VanMeter said he was “shocked by this act of violence” and that the court system was “shaken by this news.” Letcher County’s judge-executive signed an order closing the county courthouse on Friday.
Mullins, 54, was hit multiple times. Stines, 43, was charged with one count of first-degree murder. Gov. Andy Beshear said, “There is far too much violence in this world, and I pray there is a path to a better tomorrow.” Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said his office will collaborate with a commonwealth’s attorney in the region as special prosecutors in the criminal case. Stines was deposed this month in a lawsuit involving a former sheriff deputy who was accused of sexual abusing an inmate, the New York Times reports. Stines fired the deputy, Ben Fields, after the lawsuit was filed in 2022. The suit alleged that Fields coerced the inmate into performing sexual acts late at night inside Mullins' chambers in the Letcher County Courthouse in exchange for staying out of jail. Fields is serving a five-year sentence in the case. Stines was named as a defendant because he was accused of “deliberate indifference in failing to adequately train and supervise” Fields.
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