A gruesome video played in Lechter District Court, Kentucky, last Tuesday (October 1) reveals the moment a Kentucky sheriff murdered a district judge, who was also a close friend, in his chambers. The footage was presented as part of preliminary hearings surrounding the case.

The footage showed Sheriff Shawn Stines shooting District Judge Kevin Mullins multiple times inside his office. Those in the courtroom reacted emotionally to the video, which provided definitive evidence of the criminal act, shutting down Stines’ not-guilty plea.

As to the motive behind the act, a Kentucky detective’s testimony added an important layer to the situation, revealing that Stines had pleaded with police to “treat [him] fairly,” because according to him, “they [were] trying to kidnap his wife and kid.”

The relationship between Judge Mullins, 54, and Stines, 43, was widely known to be close, and the two even had lunch together hours before the attack on September 19, 2024.

A man who murdered a Kentucky judge said he did it to “protect his family,” after shocking footage showed him shooting his victim multiple times

Image credits: Sora Shimazaki

Detective Clayton Stamper’s testimony confirmed that the lunch was used by Stines to convince Mullins to meet privately.

CCTV captured the moment when the sheriff, already inside the judge’s office, pulled out a handgun, forcing the latter to hide under his cluttered desk.

Stines then shot the first round, apparently hitting Mullins’ shoulder, and followed up with a precise impact on his head, with the judge’s scared expression fully visible on camera, before leaving and delivering a third bullet to make sure his target was dead.

Image credits: KATRIN BOLOVTSOVA

Stamper then added that footage not shown in court captured the sheriff using both Mullins’ phone and his own to make multiple calls to his daughter, and that whatever information he heard then was all the motivation he needed to end the judge’s life.

The case remains under investigation as law enforcement officials are still finding new information, such as the fact that Mullins’ device already had Stines’ daughter’s phone number saved. Additional witnesses are expected to be interviewed in the coming days, including Stines’ daughter.

Officials are investigating all possible motives for the murder, with some linking it to a sexual assault lawsuit filed against one of Stines’ underlings in 2022

Image credits: Letcher County Government

Defense attorney Jeremy Bartley believes he knows what the true motive behind the assassination was, but is keeping his assessment secret at the moment, divulging only a critical piece of information: Stines apparently had acted to “protect” his family.

“He said that they were trying to ‘kidnap’ his wife and kid,” Bartley told the Louisville Courier Journal.

Image credits: https://www.facebook.com/LetcherCountyCourtClerk/

Police, however, suggested to the media last week that the murder is being investigated as a “possible sex scandal.”

Sheriff Stines was deposed days before in a lawsuit by two women. The case surrounds one of Stines’ deputies, Ben Fields, who had previously pleaded guilty to raping a female prisoner during her home incarceration. The suit, filed in 2022, accuses Stines of failing to “properly train and supervise” Fields.

One of the women claimed that the deputy had coerced her into having sex inside Judge Mullins’ chambers over a six-month period in exchange for avoiding jail time, providing a suspicious connection between the two cases and the operations in which the three men had been involved before the shooting.

Image credits: Letcher County Sheriff’s Office

Fields was fired and given six months in prison and six years on probation for charges including rape, sodomy, perjury, and tampering with a prisoner’s monitoring device. One of the women involved, however, passed away before her charges could be considered.

Judge Mullins was known for handling cases of drug addiction, juvenile matters, and domestic abuse, leading some to believe he was trying to separate Stines from his family

Image credits: Letcher County Sheriff’s Office

Mullins’ record, however, was impeccable, and he was widely recognized for effectively overseeing juvenile matters, city and county ordinances, misdemeanors, traffic offenses, arraignments, felony probable cause hearings, and domestic violence cases.

The judge had also overseen efforts to rehabilitate those addicted to drugs instead of incarcerating them, starting a program in 2010 that allowed inmates with substance abuse disorders to enroll in inpatient treatment as a condition for their release.

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Image credits: kindel media/pexels (Not the actual photo)

The connection between his handling of domestic violence cases and Stines’ claims that “they” were trying to “kidnap his family” has led some to speculate that Mullins was not involved in any misdemeanor, but instead trying to separate Stines’ family from him in an attempt to protect them from an abusive situation.

It’s important to note that no official information on these claims has been confirmed, as the details of the case are currently confidential as the process continues.

Netizens were horrified by the footage of the shooting and soon started to try to come up with theories as to what had truly motivated the murder

Image credits: Anderson Portella/pexels   (Not the actual photo)

“My bet is there was some severe corruption by one or both parties,” one wrote. 

Others believe Stines acted in revenge due to Mullins supposedly being intimately involved with his daughter.

“The judge probably did something really bad with the sheriff’s daughter,” replied another.

The theory of the daughter, a minor, being taken advantage of has been denied by Stines’ wife’s sister-in-law, who set up a GoFundMe page to help the family with their expenses following the Sheriff’s firing.

“The rumor about their daughter being sexually abused is false. We don’t want anyone donating under false pretenses,” she wrote. 

“We were made aware we cannot use this platform to assist in fees regarding this case. The funds will only be used for the needs of the wife and daughter.”

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear called for Stines’ resignation, with the latter acquiescing with an announcement on Monday (September 30).

Stines pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and is currently being held at the Leslie County Jail. The case will now be presented to a grand jury for indictment.

While the names of Stines’ wife and daughter are available, Bored Panda has decided to not include them in the article.

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“We need more information.” Netizens have been scrambling to find details as to what motivated the gruesome incident

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