KY Supreme Court won’t remove judge from former KY sheriff’s murder case
Kentucky’s highest court will not remove a judge presiding over the murder trial of former Letcher County sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines, who shot and killed a judge inside the judge’s chambers last year.
Stines, 44, argued special judge Christopher Cohron, of Bowling Green, may be partial because he sat next to District Judge Kevin Mullins at a conference where Mullins was a speaker one week before he was shot and killed.
Stines was charged with murder in September 2024 after video footage showed him shooting Mullins multiple times. Stines’ lawyers have said they plan to present an extreme emotional disturbance, or insanity, defense.
In a ruling Monday, Deputy Chief Justice Robert Conley said Cohron did not need to be removed and the case could proceed.
“It stretches the imagination to believe that mere joint attendance at a professional conference and the apparently random decision of Judge Cohron to sit next to the victim would be cause to question whether Judge Cohron could be unbiased,” Conley wrote in his opinion.
The judges’ conference, held Sept. 12, 2024, seven days before the shooting, included judges from across the state discussing mental health. According to Stines’ lawyers, Cohron and Mullins sat “inches apart” during the two-hour meeting, and Cohron failed to disclose the interaction when he was appointed as special judge presiding over Stines’ case.
Mullins’ wife was also at the meeting, Stines’ lawyers say. Mullins discussed legislation he intended to implement in Letcher County called “Women’s Dignity Law,” which outlined humane treatment of women inmates.
That meeting could prompt confusion for Cohron, Stines’ lawyers say, as several women have accused Mullins of having knowledge of sexual exploitation involving women in the Letcher County justice system, and at least one woman has said Mullins exploited women himself.
Conley disagreed.
“Finding this routine practice to create a disqualifying conflict amongst those in attendance would destroy the very purpose of these conferences: to promote joint and mutual learning of the law and the sharing of varied professional opinions in the greater interest of justice,” Conley said.
Just days before the shooting, Stines gave a “tense” deposition in a separate lawsuit accusing one of Stines’ deputies of sexually assaulting women in Mullins’ chambers. Stines’ lawyer, Jeremy Bartley, has said that deposition would be key to his client’s defense.
