Though it unfolded in neighboring Letcher County, the case of Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines has reverberated across Eastern Kentucky, including Clay County, where residents continue to follow developments closely. Stines, once the top lawman in Letcher County, is accused of gunning down Judge Kevin Mullins in his own chambers last September. The case has stirred deep concern in communities like Clay that know the pressures of public service all too well.
According to a social worker’s report, Stines was in an “active state of psychosis” just days after the killing. The evaluation noted he was unaware of his surroundings, confused, and only responsive to jail staff instructions. Defense attorneys released the report in hopes of challenging the indictment, claiming prosecutors withheld critical medical records from the grand jury.
Friends and coworkers said Stines’ behavior changed in the days leading up to the shooting. Many tied his decline to a lawsuit accusing him of failing to investigate allegations that a deputy allowed female inmates to trade sex for leniency. Stines had testified in a deposition only three days before the shooting, and several close to him described his stress as overwhelming.
Documents show multiple people raised red flags. A local attorney warned Mullins that Stines was “losing it.” A police chief was quoted saying the sheriff had “lost his mind.” Witnesses recalled Stines expressing paranoid fears that unnamed people were threatening his family. Despite a doctor’s visit diagnosing “acute stress reaction,” no immediate intervention followed.
After his arrest, Stines was moved to the Leslie County Jail, where records show he alternated between confusion and aggression. The social worker’s report noted episodes of combativeness that required pepper spray and documented that he was being treated with antipsychotic medications.
While investigators have pieced together the moments before the shooting—including Stines’ use of Mullins’ phone during the confrontation—no clear motive has emerged. Prosecutors say the sheriff shot Mullins nine times, seven while the judge was on the ground. Stines briefly fled but later surrendered voluntarily.
At issue now is whether Stines was sane at the time of the killing. A Kentucky State Police detective told a grand jury he believed the sheriff was “in his sane mind,” but defense attorneys argue that overwhelming testimony points otherwise. They are also fighting to keep the trial in Letcher County, saying moving it risks prejudice against Eastern Kentuckians in other parts of the state.
Stines, 44, faces the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder. He remains jailed without bond, while his attorneys continue to push for bail and for the release of sealed medical records. In Letcher and across the mountains, the case has left a scar—violence inside a courthouse, where people expect the law to be upheld, has rattled trust in the justice system.
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