Mickey Stines
Earlier this year, Letcher County, Kentucky, was rocked by the shocking shooting death of District Judge Kevin D. Mullins. The same day as Mullins’ death, Letcher County Sheriff Mickey Stines was arrested for the murder. And almost immediately rumors began swirling speculating exactly what was behind the crime.
We know that Mullins and Stines ate lunch together the day of Mullins’s death. According to Kentucky State Police (KSP) Detective Clayton Stamper, several other people were in attendance at the business lunch, and one overheard Mullins ask Stines if they needed to meet privately in his chambers.
What Biglaw Can Learn From Personal Injury Firms
How a former insurance agent built a Houston injury practice around systems, empathy, and disciplined advocacy.
When Stines arrived at the judge’s outer office he told those gathered there he needed to speak with Mullins alone. They went into the judge’s inner office and shortly after shots rang out, and Stines surrendered to police.
There’s also a disturbing video of the shooting. The surveillance video shows Stines, moments before the shooting, using his phone to call someone, then using Mullins’s phone. Stamper testified that both calls were made to Stines’s daughter, and the daughter’s phone number was saved on the judge’s phone.
But, according to Stines’ attorney Jeremy Bartley, misconduct allegations against former deputy Ben Fields and Mullins are “going to be crucial” in Stines’ defense — he has pleaded not guilty to murder of a public official. Three days before Mullins’ death Stines gave a deposition in a civil case brought by Sabrina Adkins alleging women under house arrest were extorted for sexual favors in exchange for more lenient treatment. According to the complaint in that case, it all happened in Mullins’s chambers.
“During these meetings, Defendant Fields’ behavior escalated from flirtatious comments to forcible kissing, to oral sex, to intercourse with Plaintiff, all of which occurred at the Letcher County Courthouse after hours, in Judge Mullins’ Chambers,” the complaint says. “Plaintiff was coerced and compelled to comply with Defendant Fields’ advances given Defendant Fields’ position of power, and because she could not afford to pay for the ankle monitor and did not want to return to the Letcher County Jail.”
How Checkbox’s ‘Legal Front Door’ Can Transform Your Workflow
Leveraging agentic AI to triage, prioritize, and automate the law department inbox.
There was also a criminal investigation into Fields’ actions (earlier this year he was convicted of rape, sodomy, perjury and tampering with a prisoner monitoring device). As reported by Law&Crime, Adkins told investigators there is “videotapes of some stuff in the judge’s chambers.” And that, “I seen Judge Mullins having sex with a girl … in the judge’s chambers.”
Adkins’ attorney Ned Pillersdorf told NewsNation he isn’t surprised Stines’ defense is going to involve the sexual extortion ring detailed by Adkins because, “It’s like they were running a brothel out of that courtroom.”
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @[email protected].