Former Kentucky sheriff accused of killing a judge appears remotely from jail during court hearing

A former Kentucky sheriff accused of gunning down a judge last year, stunning their tight-knit Appalachian community, appeared remotely from a jail Friday for a court hearing as defense attorneys and prosecutors discussed preliminary matters that will lead up to his murder trial.

Former Letcher County Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines has been jailed since the slaying last September, but his attorneys indicated they will ask that bond be set at another hearing not yet scheduled.

Circuit Court Judge Christopher Cohron said he would be “glad to address bond” then. It was the first hearing before Cohron since his appointment last month as special judge in the case. Defense attorney Jeremy Bartley said the matter of whether Stines should be released on bond had been in limbo until Cohron’s appointment.

Stines is accused of fatally shooting Letcher County District Judge Kevin Mullins in the judge’s chambers. Mullins died at the scene and Stines, who was sheriff at the time, surrendered without incident.

Stines was indicted by a grand jury on one count of murder of a public official. The ex-lawman pleaded not guilty. He resigned days after the Sept. 19 shooting at the courthouse in Whitesburg, an Appalachian town about 100 miles (146 kilometers) southeast of Lexington, Kentucky, near the Virginia border.

Video of the judge being shot was played at a dramatic court hearing last year. The video, without audio, showed a man identified by police as Stines pulling out a gun and shooting Mullins 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, it showed. Stines could face the death penalty if he’s convicted of the murder charge.

Participants in the court hearing Friday appeared via a video conference. Stines showed no emotion as he sat quietly behind his lawyers at the eastern Kentucky jail where he’s being held.

Bartley told the judge that defense lawyers are reviewing “voluminous” amounts of potential evidence provided by prosecutors. It could take prosecutors another four to six months to amass all the potential evidence and complete any testing of it, prosecutor Jackie Steele said.

“We still have some things coming in and things being tested,” Steele said.

There was no mention of any specific evidence Friday, and police have given no motive for the shooting. Stines and Mullins had known each other for years. On the day of the shooting, they met for lunch with several other people near the courthouse, a Kentucky State Police detective said at a prior hearing.