The Kentucky Supreme Court will let a judge in a former sheriff’s murder trial decide whether to recuse himself.
Attorneys for Shawn “Mickey” Stines wanted Special Judge Christopher Cohron to recuse himself from the trial of the former Letcher County sheriff in the murder of Judge Kevin Mullins.
On Tuesday, the Kentucky Supreme Court sent the request back to Letcher Circuit Court, to be decided by Cohron himself.
The defense says Cohron had an association with Mullins that casts doubt on his impartiality.
Stines is charged with shooting Mullins to death in his chambers in Whitesburg in 2024.
Cohron has yet to rule on a venue change for the trial. Prosecutors requested that because Stines is well known in the community, as was Mullins.
Cohron abruptly ended a hearing in the case last month without explanation.
The case shocked Whitesburg, a city of 1,700 about 150 miles southeast of Lexington.
A change in the trial’s location wouldn’t be unprecedented. The defense and prosecution in another high-profile case told a judge in Madison County this week they’d agreed to one.
Judge Cole Adams Maier said she’d rule this week on moving the May murder trial of Shannon Gilday from Richmond to Shelbyville.
Gilday is charged with shooting and killing Taylor Morgan, the daughter of former state Rep. Wesley Morgan, in their Richmond home in 2022.
The two sides told the judge they agreed that Shelby County is outside the Lexington media market, where the case got the most attention.
Both the Stines and Gilday cases, however, have received nationwide media attention.
