USA | Kentucky sheriff who shot best friend judge in his chambers now facing death penalty

A former Kentucky sheriff is facing the death penalty after he was charged over the slaying of a judge gunned down in his courthouse chambers two months ago.

Shawn 'Mickey' Stines was indicted on one count of murder of a public official by a Letcher County grand jury in a murder that shocked the tiny Appalachian community.

Stines had been the sheriff of the southeastern Kentucky county when authorities say he walked into District Judge Kevin Mullins' chambers in Whitesburg, spoke with the judge and then opened fire eight times, killing him on September 19.

Mullins, 54, who held the judgeship for 15 years, died at the scene, and Stines surrendered without incident.

Stines pleaded not guilty to murder and has been held in another Kentucky county jail.

Stines, 43, stepped down as sheriff more than a week after the shooting and his replacement, Billy Jones, was sworn in on October 1. Jones was a former resource officer at a high school in Letcher County.

Police have given no motive for the shooting involving two prominent members of the county bordering Virginia. Whitesburg is 150 miles southeast of Lexington, Kentucky.

"Crime of passion"

Defense attorney Jeremy Bartley had earlier called the slaying a crime of passion carried out as his client was experiencing an 'extreme emotional disturbance.'

Authorities also suggested the murder was being investigated as a possible sex scandal but have so far not elaborated.

Video showing the judge being gunned down was played at a court hearing last month.

The video, with no audio, showed a man identified by police as Stines pulling out a gun and shooting the judge as he sat at his desk.

The man walked around the desk, pointed the gun at the judge - who had fallen to the floor - and fired again. Some people in the courtroom gallery sobbed as the video was played.

Mullins died from multiple gunshot wounds, a Kentucky State Police detective said at the hearing.

The detective testified that Stines tried calling his daughter whose number have been saved on Mullins´ phone just before the shooting.

After he surrendered, Stines told police, 'They're trying to kidnap my wife and kid.'

Investigators found no weapon on Mullins or in his chambers, the detective said.

Police allege Stines walked into the judge's outer office, told court employees he needed to speak to Mullins alone, then proceeded to shoot him once they entered the inner office.

Stines then walked out with his hands raised and surrendered to officers, who placed him in handcuffs. He is said to have told officers to 'treat me fair' as he was arrested.

As DailyMail.com exclusively reported in September, the sheriff and judge, who were longtime friends, shared an outside table at the popular Streetside Grill & Bar on Main Street for lunch only a few hundred yards from the courthouse, just hours before the shooting.

The pair were lunchtime regulars together at the sports bar and on that fateful Thursday ordered their usual – both having the $13.99 wings with salad.

Stines' defense team said they left the hearing with more questions than answers and said they were conducting their own 'parallel investigation.'

Source: Mail Online, James Gordon, November 22, 2024

_____________________________________________________________________

Twitter/X | Instagram | Telegram | Contact Us

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

Indiana's governor turns down clemency request, says execution planned for Thursday will go forward

Indiana’s governor turned down a clemency request and says an execution planned for Thursday will go forward against a man who killed his girlfriend’s two children in 2010 Indiana's governor turned down a clemency request Monday and said an execution planned for this week would go forward for a man who set a fire that killed his girlfriend's two children in 2010. Gov. Mike Braun said he would follow the Indiana Parole Board's recommendation to let the death sentence stand for Jeffrey Weisheit. “The Indiana Department of Correction will continue preparations to carry out the court-ordered sentence of execution” Thursday, said Braun, a Republican.

Indiana executes Jeffrey Weisheit

An Indiana man who admitted killing his girlfriend's two children was executed early Thursday in the first of three lethal injections scheduled for the same day in the U.S. Jeffrey Weisheit killed the children, ages 8 and 5, by setting fire to his girlfriend's house in the Evansville area in 2010. The remains of 8-year-old Alyssa Lynch and 5-year-old Caleb Lynch were recovered from the ruins of a fire at their home in the Evansville area. Alyssa’s body was in a closet. Caleb’s body was on a mattress, restrained with duct tape. A railroad flare was in his underwear, and another was under his body. The children’s mother, Lisa Lynch, was at work at the time. She was in a relationship with Weisheit, but it was breaking down, investigators said. Weisheit spent 13 years on death row after his conviction. Weisheit died at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. The lethal injection started just after midnight, and he was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m., according to Noelle Russell, ...

USA | 3 states to carry out rare triple execution this week

If all three executions are carried out as planned, it will be the second triple execution in the U.S. this year, reflecting an overall uptick in the death penalty since the beginning of 2025. Three states are planning to carry out a rare triple execution this week on Nov. 5. Indiana is set to execute Jeffrey Weisheit, 50, by lethal injection for the 2010 murders of his girlfriend's two children, 8-year-old Alyssa Lynch and her 5-year-old brother, Caleb. The children were burned alive in their home.

Vigil planned ahead of high-profile Oklahoma inmate's execution

OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — After the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board denied clemency for a high-profile death row inmate in Oklahoma, a local organization is protesting his execution. James Pavatt was sentenced to death for the 2001 murder of Rob Andrew, a 39-year-old Oklahoma City advertising executive and father of two. Evidence presented at Pavatt's trial showed that he began an affair with Andrew's wife, Brenda Andrew, in 2001. Prosecutors argued that the murder was especially cruel and that Pavatt killed Andrew for an $800,000 insurance policy.

‘I’m Not Incompetent’ Christa Pike’s execution doctor, Mark Fowler, speaks.

Dr. Mark Fowler knew something was wrong after 45 minutes passed without word from the warden. In most cases, executions take no more than ten minutes. When he was summoned from his waiting room to the chamber next door, he saw 50-year-old Christa Pike, who’d received two lethal doses of pentobarbital that night, strapped to a gurney, gasping for air. “She’s not dead,” Fowler recalls the warden saying. “I thought, Well, in human beings there’s a spectrum of responses to medications and we’ll give it a few more minutes,” he says. Another half-hour passed. Fowler worried she might survive with irreversible brain damage. “She’s going to be in a permanent vegetative state with a quarter-million dollars in medical expenses.” He came back in and diagnosed her as comatose. The deputy commissioner ordered the execution to stop. Now, instead of taking part in Pike’s death, Fowler’s job was to bring her back to life.

Indiana governor rejects brain scans for death row inmate ahead of execution

Gov. Mike Braun is still weighing Jeffrey Weisheit’s clemency request, however. Gov. Mike Braun’s administration will not allow death row inmate Jeffrey Weisheit to undergo additional brain scans before his scheduled execution next week. The decision follows weeks of legal efforts by his attorneys to obtain additional medical evidence for his clemency case. Braun’s general counsel, Stephanie Flittner, met with Weisheit’s legal team Wednesday to discuss the testing and his pending clemency request.

Indiana Parole Board hears testimony on clemency for man scheduled for Nov. 5 execution

Jeffrey Weisheit set his house on fire in 2010, killing his girlfriend’s two young children he was watching. The Indiana Parole Board will now make a recommendation in the coming days to Governor Mike Braun on whether to grant clemency to condemned killer Jeffrey Weisheit. Jeffrey is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Nov. 5 for the 2010 murder of his girlfriend's 2 children in Vanderburgh County.

Florida executes Jesse Guardado

Man convicted of 2004 killing is put to death in Florida’s 19th execution this year, tying a record Florida carried out a record-tying 19th execution of the year in an unusual instance of 3 states administering the death penalty on the same day. Jesse Guardado was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. following a 3-drug injection at a state prison in Starke. He had pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing 75-year-old Jackie Malone inside her Walton County home in 2004 before stealing her jewelry box, $80, and other valuables to buy drugs. The woman had helped him get a job and housing.

Texas | Jury recommends death penalty for man convicted of killing San Benito police lieutenant

A Cameron County jury recommended the death penalty for Rogelio Martinez for killing a San Benito police lieutenant during a police chase in Brownsville. Martinez stared forward as the judge announced the recommendation. Lt. Milton Resendez's family told Martinez in court that their lives will never be the same. Resendez's wife and siblings walked past cameras and declined to speak with reporters. Inside the courtroom, where no audio or video recording was allowed, Resendez's sister Jackie raised her voice at Martinez during impact statements.

François Mitterrand, the Justice Minister Who Sent 45 Men to the Guillotine

The socialist president celebrated for abolishing the death penalty in France sent 45 condemned men to the guillotine when he was Minister of Justice. In French political history, François Mitterrand is the father of the historic victory of May 1981. He remains associated with one of the greatest moral laws of the Fifth Republic: the definitive end of capital executions, carried through with Robert Badinter in the autumn of 1981.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog