Stines
Why
did
Sheriff
Mickey
Stines
shoot
Judge
Kevin
D.
Mullins?
That’s
the
question
dominating
Letcher
County,
Kentucky,
since
September
of
2024,
when
the
shocking
incident
occurred.
Almost
immediately
rumors
began
swirling
speculating
exactly
what
was
behind
the
crime.
We
know
that
Mullins
and
Stines
ate
lunch
together
the
day
of
Mullins’s
death.
And
several
other
people
were
in
attendance
at
the
business
lunch,
and
one
overheard
Mullins
ask
Stines
if
they
needed
to
meet
privately
in
his
chambers.
Surveillance
video
shows
Stines,
moments
before
the
shooting,
using
his
phone
to
call
someone,
then
using
Mullins’s
phone.
Both
calls
were
made
to
Stines’s
daughter,
and
the
daughter’s
phone
number
was
saved
on
the
judge’s
phone.
According
to
Stines’s
attorney
Jeremy
Bartley,
misconduct
allegations
against
former
deputy
Ben
Fields
and
Mullins
are
“going
to
be
crucial”
in
Stines’s
defense
—
he
has
pleaded
not
guilty
to
murder
of
a
public
official.
Three
days
before
Mullins’s
death
Stines
gave
a
deposition
in
a
civil
case
brought
by
Sabrina
Adkins
alleging
women
under
house
arrest
were
extorted
for
sexual
favors
in
exchange
for
more
lenient
treatment.
According
to
the
complaint
in
that
case,
it
all
happened
in
Mullins’s
chambers.
Adkins’s
attorney
said
“It’s
like
they
were
running
a
brothel
out
of
that
courtroom.”
Now
more
people
are
coming
forward
with
eye-popping
stories
of
what
happened
behind
the
scenes
in
Letcher
County.
Sarah
Davis,
a
former
deputy
jailer
at
Letcher
County
Jail,
told NewsNation’s Banfield
the
stories
she
heard
about
officials
using
their
positions
to
have
sex
with
inmates
were
“nasty
and
sickening.”
Davis
said
she
was
aware
of
Mullins
having
sex
with
inmate,
“That’s
kind
of
the
thing
that
everybody
in
the
county
knows,
but
it
was
confirmed
to
me
after
working
in
the
jail,
especially
after
being
invited
to
a
party
myself.”
It
was
Mullins
himself
tht
Davis
says
invited
her
to
a
sex
party,
though
she
declined
the
invitation.
My
ex
coworkers,
they
come
out
and
even
ask
me
now
not
to
mention
it,
they’ve,
even
them
participating
in
the
parties
themselves.
I
had
had
another
one
ask
me
to
go
to
another
one
of
Mullins’
get-togethers,
and
I
declined
it
again
because
it’s
one
of
those
things.
I
was
raised
better
than
that.
You
know
what
I
mean?
If
you
know,
you
know
in
the
county,
everybody
knows.
They
might
not
speak
on
it,
they
might
not
want
to
be
involved
in
it
because
of
the
fear
of
retaliation
because
there’s
so
many
people
that
has
come
out
and
spoke
out
about
what
Judge
Mullins
has
done,
even
if
we’re
afraid
to
speak
up
on
it,
we
need
to,
because,
is
this
what
we
want
for
our
next
generation?
Is
that
what
we
want
for
our
kids,
what
we’re
going
through,
what
our
past
people
have
gone
through?
Do
we
want
that
for
them?
And
no,
I
don’t
want
that
for
my
daughter.
I
don’t
want
that
for
my
son.
I
want
better
for
them.
I
want
an
actual
community
that’s
not
based
on
if
you
got
money
and
know
people,
and
if
you’re
willing
to
get
on
your
knees
or
on
your
back.
It’s
sickening.
And
I
want
better
for
them.
Tya
Adams
is
also
talking
about
her
experience
at
these
sex
parties.
As
detailed
by
NewsNation,
Adams
said
Mullins
“started
introducing
me
to
his
friends,
the
other
lawyers,
and
we
would
do
sex
parties
and
perform
shows
and
have
sex
with
them
for
money,
things
like
that.”
Asked
if
she
felt
she
could
say
no
to
these
encounters,
Adams
said,
“No,
no,
and
he,
they
would
make
sure
to
make
you
feel
as
small
and
degraded
and
belittled
as
possible
to
take
your
power
away,
you
know?”
Adams
continued,
“It
was
consensual.
But
it
was
the
thing
that
we
were
so
young,
and
then
they
used
it
against
us
and
to
destroy
our
lives
later.”
And
keeping
party
about
the
sex
parties
was
expected,
“That
was
just
a
given,”
she
said.
“And,
who
would
believe
it
anyway?
Because
the
whole
town
was
doing
it.
Nobody
cares.
They’re
all
swingers.
It’s
all
a
big
party
to
them.
It
was
just
so
normal.”
Davis
believes
the
death
of
Mullins
will
lead
to
many
revelations
about
the
abuses
of
power
in
the
town.
Asked
what
she
thought
when
he
heard
of
the
shooting,
“A
lot
of
corruption
was
going
to
come
out.
I
knew
that
this
was
going
to
be,
that
was
going
to
be
the
beginning
to
set
everything
aside
to
make
people
come
in
and
people’s
voices
finally
be
heard.
Because
even
I
believe
that
the
sheriff,
he
either
knew
something
or
something
was
going
on
that
he
knew
about
that
we
all
might
not
know
about,
but
he
was
something
to
protect
us.”
Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of
The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
her
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or
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and
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