Motive revealed in Kentucky sheriff’s alleged killing of judge as body language expert analyzes new video

FIRST ON FOX: Fox News Digital has obtained surveillance footage showing the moments leading up to former Letcher County, Kentucky Sheriff Shawn "Mickey" Stines' suspected murder of former Kentucky 47th Judicial District Judge Kevin Mullins as Stines' attorney shared a motive for the shooting.

The pair, who had known each other for years before the unforeseen Sept. 19, 2024 killing that rocked the tiny town of Whitesburg, had spoken in the judge's chambers and gone out to lunch together with a group of friends and coworkers in the hours leading up to the shooting. 

In the surveillance video taken from Mullins' chambers, a group of people, some of whom had been at lunch with Stines and Mullins earlier in the day at StreetSide Grill & Bar within walking distance of the court and county jail, could be seen cordially chatting with the judge for more than 12 minutes. 

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Thereafter, Stines entered Mullins' chambers and cleared the room to speak with the judge privately. 

"When I'm seeing the sheriff, it's interesting to watch him because he was ready to go the minute he walked in," consultant, author and body language expert Susan Constantine told Fox News Digital. "He was contemplating it, he was shuffling his feet, [and] had his hands in his pockets."

Meanwhile, she noted that Mullins looked despondent, and almost unaware of Stines' presence. 

In the next seven minutes, Stines and Mullins talked privately before Stines stood up and seemingly locked the door of the chambers. 

"[Stines] sits down, wants to have a conversation with the judge," Constantine said. "The judge is very nonchalant, very carefree. Doesn't seem to be rattled by a lot. Seems to be very, what I would say is just unremarkable.

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"And then we've got the sheriff, [he] leans in," she said. "Then he's obviously got something on his mind because he's in an action stance."

"I think the fact that [Mullins] is shrugging it off, I think that created more angst towards the judge because he wasn't taking it seriously, whatever was being spoken about, and he's kind of playing it off like it wasn't a big deal," she said. "And the more he played it out, ‘this is not a big deal,’ the more angry Stines became."

Mullins then handed his phone over to Stines, a rumored but never-before-seen event that has led to a great deal of speculation among true crime pundits and internet sleuths alike. 

After looking through the judge's phone, Stines placed a call that went unanswered before he tossed the phone back onto the judge's desk.

He then allegedly stood up, unholstered his pistol, and moved menacingly toward Mullins before opening fire at point-blank range, killing the judge.

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Constantine said the judge didn't appear to believe he was in imminent danger until seconds before the shooting. 

"The judge is kind of going, ‘what are you doing?’ Put the gun down," she said. "Just kind of using his hand gestures, kind of flinging him out, like, ‘what are you doing?’ This doesn't make any sense."

"And then all of a sudden, there's something that the sheriff must have said," Contantine said. "And all of a sudden, then he goes into protection, right? Both palms are up. 'What are you doing? Stop. Don't do this.' Now he's in self-protection mode. And that's when [Stines] got him, when he was the weakest. Because both hands are up. And that's when he went in for the shot."

Constantine does not believe that the crime was committed in the heat of the moment, as Stines' attorneys are prepared to argue. 

"I think that was already pre-planned, [a] preeminent attack that was going to take place," she said. 

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Attorney Jeremy Bartley explains Stines' motive

In a Monday phone interview with Fox News Digital, Stines' attorney Jeremy Bartley and his wife and co-counsel Kerri Bartley put to bed online rumors about the phone exchange, and explained the defense's version of events in the days leading up to the shooting. 

"[Stines] had attempted multiple times to contact his daughter throughout the day, and including the time while he was in chambers, and he tried to contact her from the judge's phone," Jeremy Bartley said. 

He also noted that Stines received a call from his aunt while he was in the judge's chambers. 

Bartley said that the phone exchange had nothing to do with any relationship between the judge and his daughter, as has been speculated.

Rather, he said Stines was experiencing increased paranoia that his family was in danger in the period leading up to the shooting, due to a civil lawsuit in which he was named and deposed. 

"Specifically, in the approximate two-week period prior to the incident in the judge's chambers, pretty much all the witnesses the investigators talked to support what those close to Mickey had said as well," Bartley said. "And that's simply this: Mickey had become extremely paranoid. He'd become sleepless, basically wasn't sleeping. [He] slept little, if at all. He had sort of become withdrawn. And you know, it was of such a concern that his co-workers urged him to go to the doctor, and he ultimately did the day prior to the shooting."

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According to Bartley, a major contributing factor to the judge's emotional state was a deposition in a civil lawsuit filed against former Letcher County Sheriff's Deputy Ben Fields, which named Stines as a defendant for failing to adequately supervise Fields. 

The lawsuit, filed by Sabrina Adkins in January 2024, came on the heels of Fields' sentencing after he pleaded guilty to raping and sodomizing her while she faced legal trouble in 2021. The civil suit claims that, in exchange for sexual favors, Fields allowed Adkins to remain at home on bail without having to wear an ankle monitor. When she later refused to participate in sexual activity with Fields, she was arrested for violating the terms of her home incarceration, according to the lawsuit. 

The lawsuit says that all the sexual assaults occurred in Mullins' chambers, and that other women had been subjected to the same predatory treatment. 

"[Stines'] big concern all centers around the civil suit by Sabrina Adkins, who had been sexually assaulted by this Ben Fields, or coerced into sexual favors in exchange for ankle monitoring fees," Bartley said. "That had led to a federal lawsuit." 

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Stines had been deposed in the suit just three days prior to the shooting. 

"This civil suit had drawn a lot of attention to things that were happening in the courthouse," Bartley said. "And in fact, if you look at it, it was because of this lawsuit – the reason that there had been a camera placed in the judge's chambers, which is highly unusual, highly unusual to have such concern that the administrative office of courts puts a security camera in a judge's chambers." 

Bartley said that Stines was under pressure by his peers not to say too much during the proceedings in the civil lawsuit.

"I think one of the big things is that my client felt there had been pressure placed on him not to say too much during the deposition, and not to talk about things that happened within the courthouse, particularly in the judge's chambers," he said. 

"On the day that this [shooting] happened, my client had attempted multiple times to contact his wife and daughter, and he firmly believed that they were in danger," Bartley said. "He believed that they were in danger because of what he knew to have happened within the courthouse. And there was pressure, and there were threats made to him to sort of keep him in line, to keep them from saying more than these folks wanted him to say."

According to Bartley, Mullins and Stines were not particularly good friends, contrary to popular belief, though they'd known each other for quite a long time. 

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"I don't think that you would find on any given weekend, the judge and my client hanging out socially," he said. "I think that their relationship was centered pretty much solely on their profession."

Stines has been charged with one count of first-degree murder of a public official. Bartley has said the alleged killing occurred in the heat of the moment and was not premeditated. He is planning an insanity defense for Stines. 

Prosecuting attorney Jackie Steele did not return a comment request.