A judge has issued a series of rulings in the case of the former Letcher County sheriff charged with killing a district judge last year.
Special Judge Christopher Cohron dismissed a motion by former Letcher County Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines’s defense team to dismiss the murder case against him.
Stines was indicted by a grand jury in the killing of District Judge Kevin Mullins in his courtroom in Whitesburg in September 2024.
Cohron granted Stines’ request for a bond hearing. But the judge also denied his motion to unseal a mental health evaluation.
Cohron has yet to rule on the prosecution’s request to move the trial out of Letcher County. Stines’ attorney wants to keep the trial in Letcher County.
The grand jury indicted Stines in November 2024 after reviewing video footage of Mullins’ killing.
In support of the motion to dismiss, Stines’ defense argued unsuccessfully that the grand jury heard misleading testimony from a Kentucky State Police detective.
Mullins’ death shook the county of 21,000 residents about 150 miles southeast of Lexington.
Stines and Mullins had known each other for years, and according to news reports, so did many people in the community.
Stines’ defense has sought $50,000 in bond, citing his family and community ties as evidence he posed little flight risk.
Prosecutors have said Stines is not entitled to bond because he was charged with a capital offense. They have not, though, said whether they’d seek the death penalty.
Kentucky’s last execution took place in 2008.
In recent weeks, Attorney General Russell Coleman and Gov. Andy Beshear have engaged in a public dispute about a Kentucky death row inmate convicted of killing a Powell County sheriff and deputy in 1992.
Coleman says Beshear should sign a death warrant for Ralph Baze. Beshear says a 2010 Franklin Circuit Court ruling prevents him from doing that.
