An attorney for former Letcher County Sheriff Mickey Stines told People magazine his client wasn’t planning on shooting District Judge Kevin Mullins. Jeremy Bartley said the shooting happened in the heat of passion and the charge Stines should face is manslaughter, not murder. Ernie Lewis has been a public defender in Kentucky for 31 years and described the “heat of passion” defense under state law.
“You're overcome by a state of mind so enraged and inflamed or disturbed as to overcome your judgment that causes you to act uncontrollably, and then the law also requires a triggering event, something sudden and uninterrupted.”
In last week’s preliminary hearing, a state police detective said just before the shooting, Stines exchanged cell phones with Mullins and used each to call Stines’ teenage daughter.
“The defense will make a decision whether to present evidence to the grand jury, and then the grand jury probably would make a decision whether to charge murder or charge first-degree manslaughter, which is a murder under extreme emotional disturbance,” Lewis said.
Lewis noted the prosecution doesn’t have to allow the defense to present evidence to the grand jury. Stines’ attorney has not responded to interview requests from WEKU.
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