Kentucky judge allegedly killed by sheriff remembered for public service as residents seek answers

WHITESBURG, Ky. — A Kentucky judge who was gunned down in his courthouse chambers was remembered for his public service as mourners looked for answers to unravel a mystery still shaking their tiny Appalachian town — why their popular sheriff is behind bars and charged with the slaying.

The preliminary investigation indicates Letcher County Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines shot District Judge Kevin Mullins multiple times last Thursday following an argument in the courthouse, according to Kentucky State Police. Mullins, 54, who held the judgeship since 2009, died at the scene, and Stines, 43, surrendered without incident. He was charged with one count of first-degree murder. Police have not offered any details about a possible motive.

Stines will participate virtually at his arraignment on Wednesday, Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said in a social media post Monday, adding that prosecutors “will continue to pursue justice.”

On Sunday, mourners gathered at a high school gym for the judge's funeral, recalling his service to Letcher County in southeastern Kentucky near the Virginia border. Whitesburg, the county seat, is 145 miles (235 kilometers) southeast of Lexington, Kentucky.

One of Mullins’ friends said he was “puzzled as to what could create something like this.”

“I wouldn’t have imagined that he would ever been in a situation like that,” Garnard Kincer Jr., the former mayor of Jenkins, Kentucky, told WYMT-TV on Sunday.

Kincer said he trusts the judicial system to get to the bottom of what happened.