A Kentucky judge was tragically shot and killed earlier this year in his chambers by the county sheriff. Shockingly, it has been revealed that the judge was involved in a sex-for-favors scheme, as testified by Sabrina Adkina in the case against a deputy convicted of raping a prisoner in 2022.
According to Adkina, the deputy, Ben Fields, possessed videos of inappropriate nature in the chambers of District Judge Kevin Mullins, who was fatally shot on September 19 by Letcher County Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines. Stines, who has pleaded not guilty, has not disclosed any motive for the act.
Adkins, who testified against Fields following his guilty plea for raping her, was under home monitoring while Fields worked as a court security officer for the sheriff ’s office. Fields also had a side job with monitoring company Eastern Kentucky Correctional Services. He was initially charged with multiple felony counts and a misdemeanor but eventually pleaded guilty to several charges, including rape and sodomy, resulting in a sentence of six months in prison and 6 1/2 years of probation.
The other charges against him were dropped because a second victim had died, and Fields was never charged with abusing his position as a deputy or a jailer.
Adkins was one of two women who filed a civil lawsuit against Fields, which also named Stines as a defendant, saying he failed to train or supervise Fields adequately. Stines was deposed in that case a few days before the murder of Mullins. He claimed he had no knowledge of Fields’ activities until the criminal charges against him were filed, and he fired the deputy at that point.
But Adkins told investigators that she and other prisoners not only had sex with Fields in exchange for bail, but she saw a video showing Mullins having sex with a prisoner in his chambers. At first she said she’d seen the video of Fields and “some higher ups,” but moments later admitted “I seen Judge Mullins having sex with a girl.”
“It’s like they were running a brothel out of that courtroom,” Adkins attorney, Ned Pillersdorf, told NewsNation.
According to the lawsuit, Adkins said she met Fields at least six times in Mullins’ chambers for sex after he told her she wouldn’t have to wear — or pay for — an ankle monitor while on home arrest — if she did so, Law&Crime reported. Mullins’ chambers were used after hours, the complaint says, because “there were no cameras.”
But surveillance cameras in Mullins’ chambers captured Stines shooting the judge as he sat at his desk. It’s not clear when those cameras were installed.
Stines and Mullins got into an argument at lunch on the day of the shooting, and Stines came back to the courthouse that afternoon. He went in to see the judge, shot him, then left the chambers and surrendered. He has since resigned his position.
