Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Bodycam: Kentucky Sheriff Appears Paranoid After Shooting Judge in Chambers

Episode Date: January 6, 2025

Body camera and dash cam footage shows the aftermath of the shooting of Judge Kevin Mullins in Letcher County, Kentucky in September 2024. Sheriff Mickey Stines has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge for the shooting of Mullins which was recorded by a surveillance camera. Law&Crime’s Angenette Levy breaks down the video in which Stines appears paranoid in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If your child, under 21, has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or fatty liver disease, visit https://forthepeople.com/food to start a claim now!Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5CRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. We've got to get a crime scene log started. For the first time, we are seeing body camera footage after a judge is shot in his chambers, and we're hearing from the sheriff accused of the crime. Please be fair to me, boys. Now, come on now. I'll tell you more of what Mickey Stein said after police said he shot and killed a judge.

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families who deserve justice. If your child under the age of 21 has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or fatty liver disease, visit www.forthepeople.com slash food to learn more. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Mickey Steins is in jail in Kentucky, charged with murdering his one-time boss and one-time friend, Judge Kevin Mullins. You're going to hear from Mickey Steins after the shooting here in a bit. And some of what he says is frankly a little confusing. The crime is shocking for many reasons. First, it's a county sheriff accused of killing a judge, a judge who was his friend and former boss.

And the shooting was recorded by a surveillance camera in Judge Mullins' chambers in Letcher County, Kentucky. We've seen it and it's startling. It's unbelievable. This case is definitely not a whodunit. Far from it. It's more of a why did he do it? A lot of people would like to know the answer to that question. Kentucky State Police investigators, Mickey Steins' lawyers, Judge Mullins' family, and the list goes on. That day, Mullins and Steins had lunch together. It was something they had done often. And by all accounts, there was no tension.

Then around 3 p.m., Steins and Mullins met in Mullins' chambers. The meeting was recorded by a surveillance camera. A detective explained what happened at a preliminary hearing last year. I was told that Sheriff Steins had tried to call his daughter and he had tried to call his daughter from the judge's phone also. Then, for reasons that remain a mystery, Stein shot Judge Mullins. I wasn't present, but when he was taken into custody, I was told by one of the other officers that were there that he made the comment, they're trying to kidnap my wife and kid.

Now we're hearing the 911 call and seeing the aftermath of what happened. I've got an emergency at the courthouse. I need ambulance here right now. District courtroom. Which courthouse? North. Mexico County. And what's going on?

Judge has been shot. The judge? Yes. What's his name? Kevin Mullen. Go ahead. What's his name? Kevin Mullins. Go ahead. What do you have? Shots fired at a Litch County courthouse and somebody shot Judge Mullins.

You're a kid. No, sir. Just come out on the radio. Troopers race to the scene. It's not a call that you often get. A judge shot at a courthouse. When troopers arrived they began separating witnesses well i told him to put them in separate rooms so they don't talk to each other

dude yeah have you got the witnesses no they're doing the witnesses who are these guys well justin and a couple other people are walking the witness and the work of securing the crime scene began. I think he's getting that other one. 993, 993. Good. They still got the 1015 in the foyer of the courthouse. There's also some witnesses in the judge's office, not far from where he's at. If you want to come in and take him down to the jail,

we can get the rest of the witnesses out of the judge's office and the courthouse. Did anybody hurt? Look, we got a lot going on right now. I'm not surprised. I didn't realize you talked really. And it is, brother. At 3.40 p.m., a couple of women who appear to be distraught, possibly family members of Judge Mullins, show up at the courthouse.

A trooper holds one of them back. One woman is trying to get into the courthouse, but the trooper will not let her pass the steps. After 4 p.m. that day, dash cameras show officers leading Mickey Steins out of the courthouse in handcuffs to a waiting cruiser, and then you hear his voice talking with the troopers. Make sure there ain't no weapons or nothing.

Ain't nothing in that room. Yeah. Come on. Come on now. Right here, open up the back hatch. Come on now, come on now. Right here, open up the back hatch. Come on. No, now come on. You heard Steins tell the troopers to make sure there weren't any weapons in the back of the cruiser, and he talks then a little more. Y'all are going to leave me in here and i can't get up in there come on now i can't yeah man i can't get in. These cuffs are way too tight. Come on now, guys. Come on now.

Steins definitely sounds a little paranoid. Pick your leg up, my brother. Y'all got carbon monoxide in here. Come on now. Come on. I can't sit like this. I can't. Come on now. Be fair to me. We're being good to you, brother. You can stick your leg up in there. Come on now, guys.

Please don't do this to me. Please don't do this to me. Please. You want to scoot on over a little bit to the left? Come on now. Try to scoot on over a little bit more. That way we don't hit you. Can you go any bit farther?

I saw someone hit you with a door. Put your knee in there, my friend. Hey, Jason. Hey, Bates. Hey, Bates. Can we loosen this up a little or get the window down? I'm sorry? Can we loosen this up a little?

Be fair to me, man. I got some air. I'll crack the window for you, but I can turn the air on back here, okay? Yeah. Be fair to me now. I promise, Mickey. I promise. God, please. I promise. Count T.

It's hot back here, man. I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I can't breathe. The drive to the Leslie County Jail from Letcher County takes about an hour, give or take a few minutes. Steins continues to speak as if he's in fear. Come on now, guys, make sure I get to the jail. At times, it's hard to hear the troopers in the cruiser, but they try to talk to Mickey Steins on the long drive to the jail. Come on now, guys. I was asking why you done it. Was it over your family?

Come on now, guys. What are you doing? I'm just talking to you. I'm just asking, was it something to do with your family or anything like that? The trooper, after several minutes, tries to ask Stein some more questions. Was it something to do with your family? Something happened. Because if something did happen, you know, I mean, it would be good to let us know. Why did you want to talk to your daughter while I'm going to make her?

Something did happen that, you know, involved something that can help you when you go to trial and get a parent trial. Witness know kind of what's going on and what led to this. At one point, Sheriff Steins asks whether the troopers are actually taking him to a national forest. He doesn't believe the troopers are taking him to the right place. They tell him there is a national forest near the jail we're almost to the jail last one last time is there anything is this the only thing to do with your family If that's some information that we need to know. And the more that information comes out, that always can change how investigations are working. You know what I mean?

And how they're looked at. You know that. Like I said, something led to this. Come on now, guys. Guys, no guys. This is not the jail. This is not the jail now. This is not the jail.

The officers continue to drive and they assure Mickey Steins they are taking him to the Leslie County Jail. Okay, Mickey, anyway, so do you want to talk about it? Is this to do with anything with your family, your daughter or anything? Bring one in. Do they have to back out to get out or does that circle out? Does it circle out or do they get? So it's who you're passing me off to we've talked about this. This is Leslie County Jail. Who you passing me off to, though?

Nobody. He knows the way here. We didn't know the way. Oh, yeah. Y'all are passing me off here now to somebody. Mickey, I don't know why you think this. Y'all are going to let somebody hurt me. Yeah. Yeah. Come on now, guys. Y'all are going to let somebody hurt me.

Yeah. Come on now, guys. Be fair. I thought you would be. Yeah. Don't pass me off to nobody. The only people we're passing you off to is the jailers inside here. Just to do it. That's the jailers. They said there's somebody in there that they got to clear out. Yeah, come on now guys.

One last time, the trooper tries to get Steins to tell him whether the shooting had anything to do with his family. Is this anything to do with your family? I think that's some information that would be nice to be out there so we knew what exactly led to this. Don't put me in that Leslie County van. Steins is pulled out of the cruiser and taken into the jail to be booked. Steins' lawyers released the following statement to me. It says, The recently released footage affirms our belief that our client felt there was an imminent threat to his family and himself. There was an extreme amount of pressure placed upon him as a result of the pending civil case and its potential to reveal matters within

the courthouse. The footage shows that our client perceived a genuine threat and its impact upon his mental health is apparent. Following Steins' arrest, we found out that he had been deposed in a civil lawsuit in the days leading up to the shooting. A woman named Sabrina Atkins sued the sheriff's office, claiming a deputy named Ben Fields had sex with her while she was on home incarceration. Atkins was arrested in 2021 on a drug charge. Atkins claims that she couldn't afford to pay for an ankle bracelet and was afraid to go back to jail. So Fields, who was supervising her on home incarceration, offered to help her in exchange for sex. Atkins said she and Fields had sex in Judge Mullins'

chambers six times. Fields eventually was charged criminally and served six months in jail. He is supposed to be on probation for six and a half years. We don't know whether this played a role in the shooting, but there have been questions about whether it may have, and here's why. In 2022, investigators with the Kentucky Attorney General's Office interviewed Sabrina Atkins, and she claimed to have seen tapes of Judge Mullins having sex with a woman in his chambers. But he does have some videotapes of some stuff in the judge's chambers. What kind of stuff? Just with girls sexual and stuff. What would describe? Have you seen the videos? I've seen one partly and

you know just him having sex with girls to further be able to get out of jail. Who was having sex? Ben and just some higher reps up there. Who? The judge. Now you saw the video? Yeah. What did you see on the video? I mean, I've seen Judge Walens, I'm sick with the girl. Who was the girl? I don't know. Because I don't know a lot of people from my... Where was it at? In his office, in the judge's chambers.

Is that the same place that you were meeting Ben? Is that how you know it was the judge's chambers? Yeah. And this was Judge who? Walens. But you don't know who the girl was. We obtained that audio in a records request from the Kentucky AG's office. News Nation actually was the first to report on the audio. But you saw the judge. Do you know for sure that was a judge? I mean,

how do you know that's the judge? I've been in front of him. His face is pretty clear on there. Mickey Steins has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge. His attorneys have suggested he was suffering from an extreme emotional disturbance at the time of the crime. And they've suggested the shooting may have been manslaughter, not murder. That's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.