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The legal team representing the former sheriff of Letcher County, Kentucky, who is charged with the murder of the county’s judge in his office, has introduced a motion to dismiss their client’s indictment, as reported.
Attorneys for ex-sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines argue that the state neglected to document a November 2024 meeting between state prosecutors and the Letcher County grand jury, which ultimately indicted Stines, as mentioned in a court document sourced by KAVE.
The document claims the grand jury was “denied access to information known to the Commonwealth [of Kentucky], sought through grand jurors’ inquiries, but not revealed.”
Former Letcher County Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines can be seen pointing his gun at District Court Judge Kevin Mullins. (Letcher County Handout)
Just three days before the shooting, Stines was deposed in a civil case against his former deputy, Ben Fields, who is currently serving prison time for raping a woman inside the courthouse in exchange for removing her ankle monitor while she was on home confinement during criminal proceedings.
Jeremy Bartley told Fox News Digital that the sheriff had threatened to keep his mouth shut in the civil case, and that he feared for the safety of his wife and daughter.
“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.”
Defense attorney Jeremy Bartley asked questions of KSP Detective Clayton Stamper at Shawn “Mickey” Stines preliminary hearing at Morgan County District Court. Oct. 1, 2024 (Scott Utterback/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
“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,” Bartley said.
Body camera footage from the immediate aftermath of the shooting shows a paranoid Stines afraid for his life while being questioned by police.
“Come on, be fair to me now,” Stines can be heard saying to Stamper. “I seen the look… Y’all come on now, don’t kill me. Don’t punish me, you know. Let’s be fair. Don’t shoot me, nothing like that.”
Former Letcher County Ky. Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines looks over at the prosecutors during his arraignment at the Morgan County Courthouse in West Liberty, Ky., Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. Stines is accused of killing District Judge Kevin Mullins. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
“Y’all are gonna kill me, aren’t you?” he asked. “Y’all are gonna kill me, I know you are. Let’s just get it over with. Let’s just go.”
Bartley is planning an insanity defense.
Experts have denounced that defense as “frivolous.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Bartley and prosecutor Jackie Steele for comment.
