WHITESBURG, Ky. (Court TV) — The Kentucky Supreme Court has ruled against a former sheriff charged with murder, which means the current judge will remain on his case.
Shawn ‘Mickey’ Stines walks into court on Nov. 25, 2024. (Court TV)
Shawn “Mickey” Stines, 44, is accused of killing Letcher County Circuit Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, in the judge’s chambers on Sept. 19, 2024. At the time of the shooting, Stines was the elected sheriff of Letcher County. While Stines has admitted to shooting the judge in an act that was caught on video, he has said in court filings that he was mentally incapacitated and lacked the ability to form the intent to kill when he pulled the trigger.
Stines had renewed his request to have Judge Christopher Cohron removed from his case after Cohron refused to recuse himself. Stins had based his request on a video that showed Cohron with Mullins one week before the shooting at a meeting of the Kentucky Judicial Commission on Mental Health. That video showed Cohron and Mullins sitting next to each other for almost the entire two-hour gathering.
“It stretches the imagination to believe that mere joint attendance at a professional conference and the apparently random decision of Judge Cohron to sit next to the victim would be cause to question whether Judge Cohron could be unbiased,” Deputy Chief Justice Robert Conley wrote in his opinion. “Judges frequently attend professional conferences in the same space as other judges and lawyers with whom they regularly practice. Finding this routine practice to create a disqualifying conflict amongst those in attendance would destroy the very purpose of these conferences: to promote joint and mutual learning of the law and the sharing of varied professional opinions in the greater interest of justice.”
Conley noted that Stines presented no evidence suggesting that Cohron and Mullins had any relationship beyond being acquaintances. Though Stines’ motion suggested that Cohron could be seen “nodding” when Mullins talked about his plans for upcoming events in the video, “The facts as alleged simply do not support a conclusion that a reasonable person would question Judge Cohron’s impartiality.”
No trial date has been set.
