FILE - Former Letcher County Ky. Sheriff Shawn "Mickey" Stines looks over at the prosecutors during a hearing at the Morgan County Courthouse in West Liberty, Ky., Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, File)

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A former Kentucky sheriff was indicted Thursday in the slaying of a judge who was gunned down in his courthouse chambers two months ago, shocking a tiny Appalachian community.

Shawn “Mickey” Stines was indicted on one count of murder of a public official by a Letcher County grand jury, prosecutors said. Stines was sheriff of the southeastern Kentucky county when authorities say he walked into District Judge Kevin Mullins’ chambers in Whitesburg, spoke with the judge and then opened fire on Sept. 19.

Mullins, 54, who held the judgeship for 15 years, died at the scene, and Stines surrendered without incident. Stines pleaded not guilty to murder and has been held in another Kentucky county jail.

Stines, 43, stepped down as sheriff more than a week after the shooting and his replacement, Billy Jones, was sworn in on Oct. 1. Jones was a former resource officer at a high school in Letcher County.

Prosecutors did not comment after the indictment was returned Thursday in Letcher County. Attorneys for Stines did not immediately respond to a phone call and an email seeking comment.

Police have given no motive for the shooting involving two prominent members of the county bordering Virginia. Whitesburg is 146 miles (235 kilometers) southeast of Lexington, Kentucky.

Video showing the judge being gunned down was played at a court hearing last month. The video, with no audio, showed a man identified by police as Stines pulling out a gun and shooting the judge as he sat at his desk. The man walked around the desk, pointed the gun at the judge — who had fallen to the floor — and fired again, it showed. Some people in the courtroom gallery sobbed as the video was played.

Mullins died from multiple gunshot wounds, a Kentucky State Police detective said at the hearing.

The detective testified that Stines tried calling his daughter on Mullins’ phone and his own phone just before the shooting. Investigators found no weapon on Mullins or in his chambers, the detective said.

On the day of the shooting, Mullins and Stines met for lunch with several other people at a restaurant near the courthouse, the detective said during the hearing.

Stines’ defense team said they left the hearing with more questions than answers and said they were conducting their own “parallel investigation."

Stines could potentially face the death penalty for the murder charge.

News from © The Associated Press, 2024