A Kentucky judge who was shot dead in his chambers by a local sheriff had allegedly been “running a brothel” out of his courtroom, according to a lawyer.
Reporting from NewsNation suggests the slain Letcher county district court judge Kevin Mullins, 54, was connected to a sex-for-favors scheme where women on house arrest exchanged sexual acts for special treatment, according to statements from a lawyer.
Mullins was killed in his chambers on 19 September, in plain view of a surveillance camera that showed him being shot by the county sheriff. The sheriff – Shawn “Mickey” Stines, 43 – was arrested and has pleaded not guilty to murder.
Audio recordings exclusively obtained by Nexstar’s NewsNation purportedly tie the slain judge to an illegal sextortion scandal just one week after Stines entered his plea.
The audio recordings are from the criminal investigation into a Letcher county deputy sheriff who was sent to prison earlier this year for rape and sodomy of a female inmate in 2022.
“He does have some videotapes of some stuff in the judge’s chambers,” alleged witness Sabrina Adkins told police in an audio recording. “Just with girls, sexual and stuff.”
The recordings come from a criminal case involving one of Stines’ old deputies, Ben Fields, who was convicted and sentenced this year for rape, sodomy and perjury charges.
Adkins – a defendant who was placed on house arrest – filed a federal lawsuit against Fields in January 2022 after which Stines fired him. She claims in the audio recording that the videotapes she saw showed Mullins having sex with women in exchange for special treatment.
Additionally, she told police that the video shows the deputy sheriff along with “some higher ups” having sex in Mullins’ chambers in exchange for granting the inmates bail to get out of jail.
Adkins recognized the judge’s chamber because she had been there before. According to the lawsuit she filed, Fields told her they could “work something out” when she told him that she couldn’t afford to pay for the ankle monitor for her house arrest in 2021.
after newsletter promotion
Stines, who was a friend of Mullins’ for around three decades, had been deposed in the ongoing case on 16 September, just three days before Mullins’ shooting, according to the Louisville Courier Journal.
Ned Pillersdorf, Adkins’ attorney, told NewsNation: “It’s like they were running a brothel out of that courtroom.”
Stines was arrested at the courthouse where Mullins was killed and was charged with first-degree murder. He was arraigned in November on new charges of murder of a public official. He has pleaded not guilty.
English (US)