Kentucky Sheriff Charged With Murder of Courthouse Judge

Crime

By Associated Press

September 19, 2024

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A rural Kentucky county judge was shot and killed in his courthouse Thursday, and the local sheriff has been charged with murder, police said.

A preliminary investigation indicates Letcher County Sheriff Shawn M. Stines shot District Judge Kevin Mullins multiple times following an argument inside the courthouse, according to Kentucky State Police. Mullins, who served as judge for 15 years, died at the scene and Stines surrendered without incident.

Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice Laurance B. VanMeter said he was “shocked by this act of violence” and that the justice system was “shaken by this news.”

The Letcher County Judge-Executive signed an order Friday closing the county courthouse. The courthouse is in Whitesburg, 146 miles (235 kilometers) southeast of Lexington.

Mullins, 54, was shot multiple times in the shooting, Kentucky State Police said.

Stines, 43, was charged with one count of first-degree murder.

The investigation is continuing, police said.

In response to the shooting, Gov. Andy Beshear said in a social media post: “There is far too much violence in this world, and I pray that there is a path to a better future.”

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said his office will work with an area commonwealth’s attorney as special prosecutors in the criminal case.

“We will fully investigate and seek justice,” Coleman said on social media.

The shooting took place at the Letcher County Courthouse in Whitesburg, an Appalachian town in southeastern Kentucky that is 146 miles (235 kilometers) southeast of Lexington, Kentucky.

Mullins has served as a district judge in Letcher County since he was appointed by former Gov. Steve Beshear in 2009 and elected the following year.

Mullins was known for promoting drug treatment for those involved in the justice system and helped hundreds of residents enter inpatient residential treatment, according to a program for a drug summit he attended in 2022. He also helped develop a program called Addiction Recovery Care to provide peer support services in the courthouse. The program has been adopted in at least 50 Kentucky counties.

Mullins was also a founding member of the leadership team of Responsive Effort to Support Treatment in Opioid Recovery Efforts.

After the shooting, several schools in the area were briefly placed on lockdown, including Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College and Letcher County Schools, according to media reports.