The sheriff charged with murder in the shooting of a rural Kentucky judge in his courthouse chambers was accused in a federal lawsuit of failing to investigate allegations that one of his deputies repeatedly sexually abused a woman in the same judge's chambers.
The preliminary investigation indicates that Letcher County Sheriff Shawn M. Stines shot District Judge Kevin Mullins multiple times on Thursday following an argument inside the courthouse, according to Kentucky State Police.
Mullins, who held the judgeship for 15 years, died at the scene, and Stines surrendered without incident.
Just what the two men were arguing about wasn't immediately made clear.
Stines was deposed on Monday in a lawsuit filed by two women, one of whom alleged that a deputy forced her to have sex inside Mullins' chambers for six months in exchange for staying out of jail. The lawsuit accuses the sheriff of "deliberate indifference in failing to adequately train and supervise" the deputy.
