Kentucky judge, accused of misconduct, fatally shot by sheriff in his office

According to a witness’s statement to police, a Kentucky judge who was shot dead by a sheriff in his office was described as running it ‘like a brothel’ and being observed engaging in sexual activity with a young woman on the premises. 

The individual in question, District Judge Kevin Mullins, aged 54, was reportedly seen with the unidentified woman in the same chambers where he later met his demise after being shot and killed by Letcher County Sheriff Shawn ‘Mickey’ Stines, 43, in September. 

The particular accusation against Judge Mullins was brought forward by Sabrina Adkins, a woman who had been a victim of sexual assault by one of Sheriff Stines’ deputies, Ben Fields, as indicated by police recordings acquired by NewsNation. 

‘I seen Judge Mullins having sex with a girl… In his office, in the judge’s chambers,’ she said in a newly-obtained recording of a police interview. 

Adkins can be also heard saying that former deputy sheriff Fields ‘does have some videotapes of some stuff in the judge’s chambers… just with girls, sexual and stuff.’

She alleged that the tapes featured Fields and ‘some higher ups’ in the chambers having sex, suggesting there may be as-yet unidentified others involved in the sextortion scam. 

Adkins said in a federal lawsuit that she could not afford to pay for an ankle monitor and did not want to return to Letcher County Jail.

Fields then coerced her into performing sexual favors so she could remain under home incarceration, according to a federal lawsuit in 2022.

Stines was accused in a lawsuit of not properly training and supervising ex-deputy Fields, who served six months in jail after he coerced Adkins, who was on home incarceration, into sex for favors in Judge Mullins’s chambers. 

Adkins attorney Ned Pillersdorf told NewsNation ‘it’s like they (Mullins and Fields) were running a brothel out of that courtroom.’

Stiles has admitted to the shooting but pleaded not guilty to murder, arguing ‘it was something that occurred in the heat of passion’ and at most represented manslaughter. 

His attorney has alluded that his defense will be based on a lawsuit involving Stiles’ former Deputy Sheriff Ben Fields, who pleaded guilty to using his position to extort sex from women.

Stines is accused of pumping eight bullets into his close friend after entering the judge’s chambers at Letcher County Circuit Court in Kentucky for a private word and then shutting and locking the door.

No motive for the killing has been given.  

Just hours before it happened, they shared an outside table at the popular Streetside Grill & Bar on Main Street for lunch, only a few hundred yards from the courthouse.

The pair were lunchtime regulars together at the sports bar and on that fateful Thursday ordered their usual – both having the $13.99 wings with salad.

Stines, a beloved father of two who was reportedly planning to retire when his term ended, was Judge Mullins’ bailiff before he became sheriff in 2018. 

After Stines’ arraignment, his defense attorney Jeremy Bartley pointed to a deposition that Stines gave in the lawsuit  the days before the shooting as an important factor in the case. 

‘I think the deposition has several important roles in this case,’ Bartley said in a phone interview. ‘I think that there’s not a single factor, but I do think it’s going to be a large portion of the story we tell.’

Stines could face the death penalty if he’s convicted of the murder charge. 

Mullins was appointed to serve as a judge in the state’s 47th district under former Governor Steve Beshear in 2009.

He oversaw juvenile matters, city and county ordinances, misdemeanors, traffic offenses, arraignments, felony probable cause hearings, claims involving $2,500 or less, civil cases involving $5,000 or less, voluntary and involuntary mental commitments and domestic violence cases, according to a Letcher County website