Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Sheriff Accused Of Murdering Judge in Shocking Shooting: Everything We Know

Episode Date: October 3, 2024

Letcher County Sheriff Mickey Stines is charged with murder in the shooting death of his friend, Judge Kevin Mullins. Stines retired from his position as sheriff after he was charged. The crime has shocked the small town where it happened because the two men were friends and the shooting was caught on camera. New details about what happened before the shooting came to light in a hearing this week. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy talks with Stines' lawyers, Jeremy Bartley and Kerri Bartley, about their client in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:Get 50% off of confidential background reports at https://www.truthfinder.com/lccrimefix and access information about almost anyone!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. I was told that the judge made a statement to Mickey about, do we need to meet private in my chambers? That's all I was told. The murder of Judge Kevin Mullins has rocked a small Kentucky town and shocked the world as the county sheriff stands accused of the crime caught on camera. A hearing offers possible clues about a motive. Have officers confirmed that the sheriff's daughter's phone number was on

Judge Mullins' phone? Yes. I look at everything we know so far about Sheriff Mickey Steins and the death of the man he once called a friend. Plus, Steins' lawyers are here. You would not believe the outpouring of expressions of support for Sheriff Steins. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. The shooting of District Judge Kevin Mullins in Letcher County, Kentucky is a case that has shocked people not only in the town where the murder took place, but also around the world. Letcher County's now former sheriff, Mickey Steins, is charged with murdering Mullins on September 19th. The case is shocking because first, you have a sheriff accused of murdering someone and doing it in a public

place, in a courthouse. And second, Steins and Mullins were longtime friends. At one time, Steins had worked as Mullins' bailiff. The two often went to lunch together and had that day before Steins pulled his gun on Mullins and started firing at him in his chambers. These were two men that were friends, but something had to have gone terribly wrong. We just don't know what. But we got some possible clues at Steins' preliminary hearing, and some of what we heard might lend credence to rumors that have swirled around the small town of Whitesburg, Kentucky. If you've ever been to a small town, you know people talk, and there have been a lot of rumors floating around about what could have prompted Mickey Stines to start shooting at Judge Mullins.

Kentucky State Police tell me they're investigating every possibility. In the background of all of this case is a civil lawsuit. Sheriff Stines had been deposed in that suit days earlier. of his former deputies, Ben Fields, was convicted of raping and sodomizing a former inmate named Sabrina Atkins in Judge Mullins' chambers, where there weren't any cameras present when it happened in 2021. Atkins' suit accuses Sheriff Steins of ignoring the behavior. But what led Sheriff Steins to draw his gun and fire at someone he considered a friend? That's the million-dollar question. In a stunning moment at Steins' preliminary hearing, the Commonwealth played the video of Steins shooting Mullins

as Mullins' family sobbed in the courtroom. Mullins tried to shield himself. We've frozen the video before the shots were fired. That was Sheriff Mickey Stines and Judge Kevin Mullins. And obviously, who had the firearm? Sheriff Stines. And then Judge was obviously in his black robe. Yes. Do you know what portion of the courthouse that is? That is the judge's chambers.

And where is that located at, physically located? In the Letcher County Courthouse. The direct examination was incredibly brief. The burden at a preliminary hearing is probable cause. It's a low standard. So the Commonwealth's attorney opted to just play the video and ask a couple of questions and let the video speak for itself. Steins appeared to rub his eyes as that video played.

Then the defense cross-examined lead detective Clayton Stamper about what was on the video before the shooting. It was described as a meeting between Mullins and Steins. There was a short clip that was played there. How long do you believe that clip was? That we just watched? Yes. Just 10 seconds, 15 seconds? 15 seconds. In fact, the video that was taken in the judge's chambers between the meeting between Sheriff Steins and Judge Mullins, as far as I understand, that video lasted much longer, correct? Yes. Okay. And have you had an opportunity to review the video of the prior incident?

I have. And can you describe for us what happened immediately prior to the clip that we saw? Sheriff Steins uses his telephone to make some phone calls. He then borrows Judge Mullins' cell phone and appears to make a call on that. And that led to what you just saw. Now, there's no audio on the video, and it came out that Judge Mullins was meeting with a few people before Steins came into his chambers. There's about approximately four people in there. Then Sheriff Steins enters the judge's chambers and everybody else clears out. You don't know their names? Not right off, no. Have you

prepared a report? In the process, yes. You're in the process of preparing a report? Yes, a lot of information. But you've not spoken to any of those witnesses? I've not directly, but they've all been interviewed. There's recorded interviews of those people in the case. Okay, so other officers have spoken with those four witnesses? Yes. And what is your understanding of what those four witnesses have said? I don't recall. You have no idea what they said? No. Now it's interesting that there is a surveillance camera in Judge Mullins' chambers now, but back in 2021 when Ben Fields was having sex with the former inmate, there wasn't. The cross-examination of Detective

Stamper continued. Judge Mullins and Sheriff Steins had had lunch earlier that day. So who was, where was this, where did this take place? It's a restaurant called Street Side and it's just down the street from the courthouse. Okay. And is my understanding there were a couple of other people who attended the luncheon? There were several, yes. Okay. And at some point after that, they wrapped up lunch and left, obviously, and went back to the courthouse. Are you aware of anything so far in your investigation that would tell us there was any issues at lunch between Judge Collins and Sheriff Stines? No. Someone on behalf of the KSSP has spoken to those witnesses?

Yes, they've all been interviewed. And there was nothing unusual that had arisen during that luncheon? I was told that the judge made a statement to Mickey about, do we need to meet private in my chambers? That's all I was told. Do you know the context of what the conversation was before that they would need to discuss in chambers? I do not. It doesn't matter who someone is and what their job might be. You have to make sure the people you surround yourself with are safe. Our sponsor truthfinder.com can help you with that. Truthfinder is one of the largest public record search services in the U.S.

Here's how it works. You go to Truthfinder.com and type in a name. With a paid subscription, you can access unlimited reports that include information like phone numbers, past addresses, criminal and traffic records, including possible arrests and criminal convictions, and registered sex offenders in your area. Truthfinder can help provide peace of mind when you do these unlimited searches. Right now, you can get 50% off of confidential background reports. Log on to www.truthfinder.com slash lccrimefix. Log on and start accessing information about almost anyone. Steins' defense attorney, Jeremy Bartley, who you'll hear from shortly,

along with his co-counsel, Kerry Bartley, questioned why only a portion of the video showing the shooting was shown in court. So it's my understanding that in the larger portion of the video that we haven't had access to, that there is a point when Sheriff Steins asked for to see the telephone of Judge Mullins? Yes.

Is that a yes? Yes. Yes, okay. And I would presume that you and the other officers you mentioned, when you secured the scene, that you secured those phones as well. Is that correct? Yes. And have you reviewed both of those phones? They're currently at the forensic lab at this time being downloaded. I have had discussions with the people at the lab regarding the downloads.

And those are a couple of other questions that I was going to ask you, but my original question was, have you reviewed or are you aware of the content of the funds? I've not personally seen it because I've not received those reports yet. Okay, again, based upon your conversations with the officers, are you aware of any recent content that was up and could have been relevant at the time of their discussion? 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. So have you obtained the phone records from Judge Mullins' phone? I don't have those in my possession yet, no. Have you issued a search warrant for them?

Yes. Yes. Okay. And have officers confirmed that the sheriff's daughter's phone number was on Judge Mullins' phone? Yes. Okay. So that number had been called from Judge Mullins' phone. Yes. Is that correct? Yes. I think so. Yes. That number had been called from Judge Mullins' phone. Yes.

Is that correct? Yes. So why was Sheriff Steins calling his own daughter from Judge Mullins' phone? We don't know. That's part of the small town rumors that are circulating and that Kentucky State Police are investigating. So, we don't have a viewing of what transpired during that exchange of phones, but based upon your review of those moments prior to, when Sheriff Stimes observes that cell phone. Was he previously seated?

Yes. So in the clip we saw him standing the entire time. He was seated in front of the judge's desk. And he looks at the cell phone. Can you describe his reaction in the video that we haven't seen? Whose reaction? The sheriff. You can't see his face in the video.

Okay. But is it clear that, does it appear to you that, let me rephrase this, did he stand up after looking at the phone? He stood up. And how long after he looked at the cell phone and stood up did this occur that you played? Just seconds. And there was another curious question from the defense. Are you aware of any criminal reports that Sheriff Stines had made of Judge Mullins prior to this day?

No. Was Sheriff Steins investigating his friend for something? Steins' lawyers tell me they're looking into the possibility that Steins had filed a report about Judge Mullins. He was mostly calm, I thought. I mean, I talked to him, but he didn't say nothing about why this had happened. But he was calm. He was kind of afraid that basically all he said was, treat me fair.

That's basically the comments he made. Did he also make a statement about, I didn't see it in the citation, somewhere along the line I saw a statement being attributed to him about protecting his family. He was, I wasn't present, but when he, 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. Detective Stamper said they have not gathered any information at this time that the shooting was pre-planned. The judge ruled there was probable cause to find Mickey Steins had committed the murder. Steins has retired in

light of his being charged with murder. His case will now go to the grand jury. Jeremy and Kerry Bartley are actually representing Sheriff Steins. Thank you so much for coming on. First of all, how is Sheriff Steins doing? He seemed pretty stoic, except for maybe rubbing his eyes a couple of times when the tape played in court yesterday. Yeah, I mean, I think he's doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances. I think that he is certainly taking everything in at this point. And, you know, he's doing OK. He's OK. So many people are asking why. I mean, it's clearly on the videotape. You know, he's pleaded not guilty in the lower court. But why? That's the big question.

And you asked a number of questions under cross-examination yesterday, Jeremy, about the daughter, about her phone number being in Judge Mullins' phones. Where were you going with that line of questioning? There's been a lot of talk in that small town, but not a lot of concrete answers about what may have been the impetus for this. Well, I mean, our investigation is still ongoing, and I would hope, given the incomplete answers we got yesterday, that law enforcement's investigation is ongoing. a sudden, uh, there was a sudden, uh, inflammation of past, you know, of emotion that transpired in the moments just before the tape came on in the clip that we saw. And so this tape was edited to, uh, to, to cut out anything that happened just prior. And we think the moments just prior will tell the whole story. I don't know at this point what ultimately was on that phone. They're examining the phones, but we believe that based upon the statements that our client made,

just following arrest, as well as the indication that there was this exchange of phones or viewing of phones that something in that moment made our client feel that there was no other choice than to do what he did. So it almost sounds like you think he snapped. I mean, this was a reaction. Well, yeah. And that would be textbook extreme emotional disturbance with the, you know, with the textbook example always of finding your significant other with someone else. And in the moment, you know, in the older case law, they're referred to it the heat of passion. And that's pretty much the same line of reasoning that extreme emotional disturbance follows. There was discussion that he said something about protecting his wife and daughter, or he was concerned about his wife and daughter. And then you were able to elicit

that under the questioning of the lead detective, that the daughter's number, and she's a minor from what I understand, her phone number was in Judge Mullins' cell phone. I don't know if that would be unusual since they had been friends for many years. Can you elaborate on that for us? What was going on with the daughter's phone number being in Judge Mullins' cell phone? Now, candidly, I believe that the officer testified that he believed that our client made a call from the judge's phone. So whether or not there was a call separate from that or

whether there were any other calls, I mean, we'll have to await the cell phone records to determine, but there was obviously, if in fact it is true that what the officer said, that the daughter's number was dialed during this period of time, and you take that in companion with the statement that our client felt like his wife and his daughter were in danger, then we think certainly there is something there that is going to support our contention that Mr. Steins felt as though he had to act. Now, what that looks like objectively is subject to more discovery and more investigation. Why were you asking about the apps on the phones and the different types of apps that can be used for communication? I mean, it seems to me you could draw an inference that Judge Mullins

potentially may have been communicating with Sheriff Steins' wife or daughter. Do you know that to be true? I have no objective facts that would lead us there or that would anything other than, of course, there's plenty of speculation. And so I'm just asking the questions. At this point, I'm asking the questions to try and determine, A, what the objective truth is, right? But if you look at that statute, the statute is in reference to what our client's subjective belief was at the time that he acted.

And so you actually, you know, everyone wants to know the objective why, but for us, we want to know the objective truth. But the important thing ultimately for the trial is what did our client believe? And so to answer your question more succinctly, I do not have any basis now to make any conclusion about the phone number or any interaction other than it appears that our client made the statement that he was concerned about the safety of his wife and daughter. Do we know, either Kerry or Jeremy, why Sheriff Steins decided to use Judge Mullins' phone instead of his own? We know you said that he did use his phone and then use the judge's phone. Yeah, that is another reason why the phones are going to be so important in this case. And until we have back the forensic review of the phones, all of the phones, and in

fact, I think we learned that there was another phone that was seized or maybe turned over from an employee of the sheriff's that we were not aware of before this, before we were going into the hearing yesterday. All of those phones are going to become critical. And at this point, we just don't know. The Bartleys say they're investigating everything, including whether the civil suit involving former Deputy Fields played a role. We have to ask the question since the allegations involve the same chambers, the same location that this incident took place in. And, you know, I'm still struck by how unusual it is that you have a live recording of a judge's chambers going on. Most of the time, if you have cameras in a judge's chambers, they are only on if you're having a hearing.

And at that point, they're initiated by a court staff, and then they are turned off by a court staff, and they include audio. But I don't know of another judge that would have had a video camera recording him 24-7 or 9-5, however long he's in the office. cameras were put up after the lawsuit and after the conviction of a deputy for some sexual crimes that he committed in the judge's chambers, these same chambers. So again, we're asking the questions too. And so far, no one will give us the answers. There are a lot of rumors floating around that small town. And one of them has to do with Sheriff Steins' daughter. And we know that she was interviewed by law enforcement in the presence of

her mother. Do we know, is there any indication that there's some investigation going on related to that? Kentucky State Police have kind of said they are looking into kind of everything and whether or not there may have been something going on that was untoward with his daughter. Are you aware of anything? We await the results of the investigation ourselves. I don't know anything more than we heard yesterday at the hearing in terms of what that evidence may look like. We don't know. At this point, we're not making that allegation at all. We are trying to understand why our client felt that he had to protect his wife and daughter as he told the officers that day. And, you know, that could be one, you know, that could be based upon

one factor. It could be multiple factors. And we, again, at this point, we don't want to speculate. I'm not going to speculate about anything just because there are these salacious rumors. I'm not going to get into that or speculate about that. believe at that time that he either acted in self-protection or that he was so emotionally overcome that he was unable to control his actions in that point. It's based upon his subjective belief. What ultimately is objectively true may be important to know, but the focus will be on what our client believed at the time he had to do. Despite Sheriff Steins being charged with murder, the most serious offense a person can face in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the Bartleys say Steins is receiving a lot of support. Sheriff Steins has, you would not believe the outpouring of expressions of support for Sheriff Steins. Again, ultimately, no one is going to ever say, we're never going to say that, you know,

that this is a beneficial thing or a positive thing that a man was killed. It's a tragic thing, no matter how we look at it. And just because we represent the sheriff, anytime there's a loss of life, that's tragic. But no one is supporting him from the community and saying Stein's transporting juveniles and stopping at the McDonald's drive-thru to get them food and to take care of people who were, you know, who were having difficulties in getting food and taking it to their house. I've heard from drug addicts and recovering addicts who attribute their sobriety and their success in life to Sheriff Stein's efforts. Now, that is important to us because, again, there is something and we want to know what, and we're continuing to do our own investigation, but we, you know, ultimately the Commonwealth has to give us the information to understand what would make this man who has served so honorably in his community to get to the point where he felt the only thing he could do to protect his wife and

daughter is to take action on his own. Well, it's certainly still very early on. Jeremy and Kerry Bartley, thank you so much for coming on. I appreciate it. Thank you for having us. So it will be interesting to see whether this case continues as a murder case or whether it turns into some type of manslaughter case or something else. We'll have to wait and see how everything unfolds. I spoke with a spokesperson from Kentucky State Police who tells me they're looking into everything, as I mentioned, and those phones, they're at the lab being examined. So that could take maybe a month, maybe two, but they are hoping it doesn't take that long and that those cell phones reveal some

clues. That's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being here. I'll see you back here next time.