![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Mickey-Stines.jpg?resize=125%2C125\")
\nNearly a year since a Kentucky judge was gunned down in his courthouse chambers, the issue of whether bond is justified for the former sheriff charged in the killing remains unsettled as he awaits trial.<\/p>\n
\nNearly a year since a Kentucky judge was gunned down in his courthouse chambers, the issue of whether bond is justified for the former sheriff charged in the killing remains unsettled as he awaits trial.<\/p>\n
A defense attorney on Friday recommended a $50,000 cash or property bond for former Letcher County Sheriff Shawn \u201cMickey\u201d Stines, saying he is not a flight risk and poses no danger to himself or the community. A prosecutor responded that Stines is not entitled to a bond, citing a section of Kentucky’s constitution that says the right to bail doesn’t apply to people charged with a capital offense.<\/p>\n
Stines has been jailed since last September, when District Judge Kevin Mullins was fatally shot at the courthouse in Whitesburg, Kentucky. Mullins died at the scene, and Stines, who was sheriff at the time, surrendered without incident. Stines has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder of a public official.<\/p>\n
On Friday, the judge hearing the case did not rule immediately on whether bond should be set. Both sides were given until September 2 to submit further written arguments on a handful of pending pretrial matters. Circuit Judge Christopher Cohron, serving as special judge in the case, said he would try to expedite his ruling, and said he could start looking at setting a trial date once those initial matters are resolved.<\/p>\n
Authorities haven’t yet revealed a possible motive for the September 19 shooting that stunned residents of Whitesburg.<\/p>\n
Stines resigned days after the shooting and is being held in an eastern Kentucky jail without bond.<\/p>\n
Stines could potentially face the death penalty for the murder charge, but prosecutors haven’t yet filed notice with the court on whether they will seek the death penalty.<\/p>\n
Defense lawyers also have pending motions to unseal the ex-sheriff’s psychological evaluation and to dismiss the indictment. The judge will decide whether a hearing is needed to settle the motions.
\nSource: AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nearly a year since a Kentucky judge was gunned down in his courthouse chambers, the issue of whether bond is justified for the former sheriff charged in the killing remains unsettled as he awaits trial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":49078,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-53134","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-archive","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Mickey-Stines.jpg?fit=330%2C220&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6aKAp-dP0","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-11 15:45:00","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53134"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53135,"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53134\/revisions\/53135"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}