In a dramatic legal maneuver, attorneys for a former Kentucky sheriff accused of executing a judge in his own chambers have signaled an insanity defense, claiming their client’s mental state was shattered by threats and a web of courthouse corruption in the hours before the killing. Mickey Stines, the former Letcher County Sheriff, faces a murder charge for the September 19 shooting death of District Judge Kevin Mullins, a longtime friend, captured on courthouse surveillance video.
The defense team filed a formal notice stating Stines intends to present expert evidence relating to “a mental disease or defect” and will pursue defenses of both insanity and extreme emotional disturbance. This filing opens a window into a case already shrouded in allegations of secret sex acts, coercion, and cover-ups within the local justice system. Attorney Jeremy Bartley stated the goal is to expedite a state psychiatric evaluation, citing an 18-month backlog.
“There was zero doubt to anyone that was around Mickey in the days… that he had not slept in days… that his demeanor was completely off,” Bartley said in an interview. He described Stines as paranoid and acting entirely out of character following a recent deposition in a civil lawsuit that threatened to expose scandalous conduct. That lawsuit, filed by a woman named Sabrina Atkins, alleges a deputy solicited sex from her in exchange for help with an ankle monitor.
Atkins told investigators with the Kentucky Attorney General’s office she had sex with that deputy in Judge Mullins’s chambers multiple times. Crucially, she also claimed to have seen a video depicting Judge Mullins himself having sex with a woman in his office. “I’ve seen one partly… just them having sex with girls to get out of jail,” Atkins stated in recorded interviews. These revelations form a critical backdrop to the shooting.
Bartley suggested Stines believed his family was in imminent danger due to what he might reveal. “When Mickey entered the judge’s chambers he had… no doubt in his mind that his wife and his daughter had been threatened,” Bartley asserted. He indicated the defense will argue a combination of deteriorating mental health and intense pressure from the deposition led Stines to be unable to conform his conduct to the law. Surveillance footage from the day of the shooting, detailed in the report, paints a puzzling timeline. Stines and Mullins shared a seemingly normal lunch at their usual restaurant just hours before the killing. By approximately 3:00 p.m., they were together in the judge’s chambers. After Stines made phone calls from both his own and the judge’s phone, he fired multiple shots at Mullins. The video shows others fleeing the room in panic.
Following his arrest, Stines appeared deeply disturbed in police custody. Trooper dashcam audio captures him pleading from the back of a cruiser, sounding paranoid and fearful. “Y’all got carbon monoxide in here… please don’t do this to me,” he is heard saying. He later told an investigator he was “afraid” and wanted to be treated fairly, while another officer reported Stines claimed “they’re trying to kidnap my wife and kid.”
The defense notice also requests that their own expert be present for the state’s psychiatric evaluation, a point Bartley emphasized as procedurally vital. He distinguished the insanity defense from questions of competency to stand trial, clarifying Stines is currently competent but his mental condition at the time of the act is in question. The extreme emotional disturbance defense, if successful, could reduce a potential murder conviction to manslaughter.
Bartley hinted at a broader, darker narrative within the Letcher County courthouse, noting the unusual presence of a live-feed security camera in the judge’s chambers installed after the earlier deputy scandal. “We believe that there were folks that didn’t want… what was going on in there being told in this deposition,” he said, suggesting powerful motives to silence testimony. He confirmed his investigation has uncovered more information but declined to elaborate.
The case now enters a complex phase where Stines’s mental health will be scrutinized alongside the sordid allegations of institutional misconduct. Prosecutors have yet to formally respond to the insanity notice but are expected to seek their own evaluation. The proceeding promises to dissect not only a moment of shocking violence but the secretive environment that may have precipitated it, revealing the profound tensions behind the bench in a small Appalachian community.
