The attorneys representing the former Letcher County, Kentucky sheriff who stands accused of murdering the county’s choose in his chambers have filed a brand new movement to have their consumer’s indictment dismissed, in line with a report.
Former sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines’ attorneys say the state didn’t file a November 2024 assembly between state prosecutors and the Letcher County grand jury that ultimately indicted Stines, in line with a court docket submitting obtained by KAVE.
The submitting says the grand jury was “disadvantaged of knowledge recognized to the Commonwealth [of Kentucky], sought in query by grand jurors, however not disclosed.”
Stines allegedly shot District Decide Kevin Mullins in Mullins’ personal chambers within the Letcher County Courthouse on Sept. 19, 2024.
The incident, which rocked the tiny rural city, was caught on a surveillance digicam.
Each Stines and Mullins had been well-known pillars of the group for many years.
Particularly, the movement filed by lawyer duo Jeremy and Kerri Bartley says the grand jury was denied details about an ongoing civil lawsuit, through which Stines is called as a defendant, that would present context for the taking pictures.
The attorneys additionally declare that testimony earlier than the grand jury from Kentucky State Police Detective Clayton Stamper, the lead investigator within the case, was unfairly prejudicial.
Stines’ attorneys declare that allegations of sexual abuse plagued the Letcher County Courthouse.
Simply three days earlier than the taking pictures, Stines was deposed in a civil case towards his former deputy, Ben Fields, who’s at present serving jail time for raping a lady contained in the courthouse in alternate for eradicating her ankle monitor whereas she was on dwelling confinement throughout felony proceedings.
Jeremy Bartley informed Fox Information Digital that the sheriff had threatened to maintain his mouth shut within the civil case, and that he feared for the security of his spouse and daughter.
“On the day that this [shooting] occurred, my consumer had tried a number of instances to contact his spouse and daughter, and he firmly believed that they had been in peril,” Bartley stated.
“He believed that they had been in peril due to what he knew to have occurred inside the courthouse. And there was stress, and there have been threats made to him to type of hold him in line, to maintain them from saying greater than these of us wished him to say.”
“I believe one of many huge issues is that my consumer felt there had been stress positioned on him to not say an excessive amount of throughout the deposition, and to not speak about issues that occurred inside the courthouse, significantly within the choose’s chambers,” Bartley stated.
Physique digicam footage from the quick aftermath of the taking pictures exhibits a paranoid Stines afraid for his life whereas being questioned by police.
“Come on, be truthful to me now,” Stines might be heard saying to Stamper.
“I seen the look… Y’all come on now, don’t kill me. Don’t punish me, you understand. Let’s be truthful. Don’t shoot me, nothing like that.”
“Y’all are gonna kill me, aren’t you?” he requested.
“Y’all are gonna kill me, I do know you’re. Let’s simply get it over with. Let’s simply go.”
Bartley is planning an madness protection.
Consultants have denounced that protection as “frivolous.”
Fox Information Digital reached out to Bartley and prosecutor Jackie Steele for remark.
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