Podcast
Chambers of Secrets: The Murder of Judge Kevin Mullins
Hosted by True Crime Today · EN
Delve into the intricate and unsettling case of Judge Kevin Mullins' murder in Letcher County, Kentucky—a story that intertwines justice, betrayal, and scandal. This podcast provides an in-depth investigation into the events of September 19, 2024, when Judge Mullins was fatally shot in his chambers, allegedly by Sheriff Shawn "Mickey" Stines, a longtime friend and colleague.
We explore the complex relationship between Mullins and Stines, tracing their history from courtroom collaborators to the tragic confrontation. Through comprehensive analysis and exclusive interviews, we uncover the alleged sex-for-favors scandal within the courthouse, including claims that Judge Mullins' chambers were misused for illicit activities.
The podcast also investigates the legal proceedings leading up to the incident, including a federal lawsuit involving a deputy under Sheriff Stines' command, and how these events may have influenced the fatal encounter.
Join us as we navigate the murky waters of this case, seeking to understand the motives, implications, and the profound impact on the local community. This series offers a comprehensive exploration of a tragic event that has left a lasting mark on the justice system in Letcher County.
We explore the complex relationship between Mullins and Stines, tracing their history from courtroom collaborators to the tragic confrontation. Through comprehensive analysis and exclusive interviews, we uncover the alleged sex-for-favors scandal within the courthouse, including claims that Judge Mullins' chambers were misused for illicit activities.
The podcast also investigates the legal proceedings leading up to the incident, including a federal lawsuit involving a deputy under Sheriff Stines' command, and how these events may have influenced the fatal encounter.
Join us as we navigate the murky waters of this case, seeking to understand the motives, implications, and the profound impact on the local community. This series offers a comprehensive exploration of a tragic event that has left a lasting mark on the justice system in Letcher County.
18episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Mickey Stines Case: What Happens When a Sheriff Breaks Down
Feb 1800:17:10Tap to summarizeThe Mickey Stines case raises hard questions about mental health in law enforcement — and what happens when warning signs get ignored by everyone who sees them.Before former Letcher County Sheriff Stines shot and killed Judge Kevin Mullins in September 2024, multiple people in the courthouse saw him deteriorating. According to court documents, staff watched him lose forty pounds in two weeks. He stopped sleeping. He expressed paranoid beliefs that his family was going to be murdered. He made phone calls to dead relatives. One employee told Kentucky State Police she believed he was "in a psychosis."A local attorney warned the judge directly that Stines was "losing it." The police chief reportedly said he'd "lost his mind." An attorney was so alarmed he contacted the Kentucky Bar Association to figure out what he could do.The day before the shooting, friends brought Stines to his doctor. According to medical records cited in court filings, Stines denied psychosis or homicidal thoughts. He was diagnosed with acute stress and sent home. Twenty-four hours later, he walked into the judge's chambers and opened fire.This case forces hard questions: what systems exist to intervene when a law enforcement officer is visibly breaking down? Who has the authority to act? In Letcher County, the answer appears to have been no one. Stines' defense is pursuing insanity, claiming psychosis and lack of capacity. Whether that succeeds is up to the courts. But the institutional failure deserves examination regardless.#MickeyStines #LawEnforcementMentalHealth #KevinMullins #SheriffShooting #LetcherCounty #CourthouseShooting #MentalHealthCrisis #PoliceAccountability #InstitutionalFailure #TrueCrimeJoin Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspodInstagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodListen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.
Transcribe →Mickey Stines' Defense Just Played Their Biggest Card — Does the Evidence Support It?
Feb 1300:17:22Tap to summarizeA former sheriff caught on video shooting a sitting judge is now asking the court to rule that he's too mentally ill to face the death penalty. Shawn "Mickey" Stines' attorneys filed a motion Monday under Kentucky's 2022 mental illness exemption statute, requesting a hearing to determine whether their client has a serious intellectual disability or serious mental illness. The filing offers no named diagnosis and no attached medical documentation.This episode focuses on the legal mechanics — what Kentucky's HB 269 actually requires, how the only previous case under this statute played out, and where the evidence lands for and against Stines' claim. We walk through the four qualifying diagnoses the law recognizes, the documentation and symptom requirements, and the 120-day filing and 90-day ruling timelines the defense is now working against.On one side: witness accounts of a sheriff spiraling into paranoia, a jail intake describing active psychosis, and staff members who told state police they believed he had lost touch with reality. On the other: surveillance footage prosecutors say shows deliberate actions, a doctor's visit where Stines denied any mental health symptoms hours before the shooting, no public record of a qualifying pre-existing diagnosis, and a sealed psychiatric evaluation the defense hasn't been able to leverage. We also look at the broader strategic picture — with no trial date set, a judge recusal motion pending, and Kentucky's death penalty functionally dormant since 2008, what this filing may really be designed to accomplish.#MickeyStines #SheriffStines #JudgeMullins #LetcherCounty #KentuckyLaw #DeathPenaltyExemption #MentalIllnessDefense #HB269 #CourthouseShooting #LawEnforcementJoin Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspodInstagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodListen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.
Transcribe →
FBI's Robin Dreeke: Judge Kevin Mullins Got a Warning About Mickey Stines — He Did Nothing
Jan 1300:49:56Tap to summarizeA lawyer told Judge Kevin Mullins directly that Sheriff Mickey Stines was falling apart. Said he couldn't take the pressure. Said he needed a mental health evaluation. Mullins had worked with Stines for years — Stines was his bailiff before becoming sheriff. They had lunch together the day of the shooting. Hours later, Mullins was dead in his own chambers.Both men were tied to a lawsuit alleging sexual exploitation by Stines' deputies — misconduct that allegedly occurred in Mullins' chambers. Stines gave a deposition in that case days before the killing. It was described as tense. Fifteen months later, still no official motive from prosecutors.Former FBI Behavioral Analysis Program Chief Robin Dreeke spent decades studying how trust becomes a vulnerability. How people dismiss threats from familiar faces. How secrets between powerful people become leverage. And what happens when someone who belongs somewhere — someone with a badge, a title, years of institutional trust — becomes the threat nobody sees coming.Today he breaks down what went wrong in Letcher County. The warning signs that were visible. The pressure dynamics that may have driven Stines to the breaking point. And why institutions keep failing to act when the danger comes from one of their own.#MickeyStines #KevinMullins #RobinDreeke #FBI #SheriffStines #CourthouseShooting #LetherCounty #TrueCrime #BehavioralAnalysis #LawEnforcementJoin Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISDOES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspodInstagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/tonybpodListen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.
Transcribe →FBI's Robin Dreeke: When a Sheriff and a Judge Are Tied to the Same Scandal — And One Ends Up Dead
Jan 1200:13:16Tap to summarizeBefore Mickey Stines killed Kevin Mullins, both men were connected to a lawsuit alleging sexual exploitation by Stines' deputies — misconduct that allegedly occurred in Mullins' chambers. Stines gave a deposition in that case days before the shooting. It was described as "tense."Robin Dreeke spent over twenty years at the FBI studying how entanglement between powerful people becomes dangerous. How secrets function as leverage. What happens when exposure threatens someone who's already on the edge.This conversation examines the pressure dynamics behind the Stines killing — and asks a question nobody in an official capacity has answered: why hasn't the prosecution told us what drove this?#MickeyStines #SheriffStines #JudgeKevinMullins #RobinDreeke #FBI #LawEnforcement #Leverage #CriminalJusticeJoin Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISDOES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspodInstagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/tonybpodListen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872
Transcribe →FBI's Robin Dreeke: How Sheriff Mickey Stines Walked Into a Courthouse and Killed a Judge Unchallenged
Jan 1200:11:45Tap to summarizeHe had a badge. He had access. He had years of history with the man he killed. Nobody stopped Mickey Stines because nobody thought they needed to.Retired FBI Special Agent Robin Dreeke — former head of the Bureau's Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program — breaks down what this case should teach every courthouse and law enforcement agency in America. When the threat comes from someone with legitimate authority, how do you see it? When a colleague is deteriorating, what triggers action? And why do the people closest to danger so often fail to recognize it?#MickeyStines #SheriffStines #JudgeKevinMullins #RobinDreeke #FBI #LawEnforcement #CourthouseSecurity #CriminalJusticeJoin Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISDOES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspodInstagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/tonybpodListen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872
Transcribe →Mickey Stines Week In Review: Judge Recusal Motion, FBI Analysis, and the System That Couldn't Stop Him
Jan 1100:32:01Tap to summarizeEverything we covered this week on the Mickey Stines case — the recusal motion that's frozen proceedings and the systemic failures that allowed a sheriff in crisis to keep his gun.The defense filed a motion to recuse Special Judge Christopher Cohron after discovering video footage showing him seated inches from Judge Kevin Mullins at a Kentucky Judicial Commission on Mental Health meeting just seven days before Mullins was shot to death in his chambers. Cohron never disclosed this connection. Defense attorneys Jeremy and Kerri Bartley argue that in a case where Stines' mental state is the entire defense, this creates an appearance of bias. They point to Cohron blocking psychiatric evaluation from the bond hearing as evidence. Everything is frozen while we wait to see if Cohron steps aside or forces escalation to the Kentucky Supreme Court.We also examined what court filings reveal about the days before the shooting. Mickey Stines spiraled publicly. He called dead relatives on his phone. Lost weight rapidly. Stopped sleeping. Displayed paranoia. His staff pushed him to see a doctor. The diagnosis was acute stress reaction. They sent him home — with his badge, his gun, and his authority untouched. Twenty-four hours later, Judge Mullins was shot nine times in his own chambers.Former FBI Special Agent Jennifer Coffindaffer exposed the structural failures. Kentucky has no red flag law. An elected sheriff cannot be suspended by subordinates. There was no mechanism to disarm him. The civil lawsuit accuses sheriff's employees of failing to warn Mullins. Their defense: Kentucky law imposed no duty to act.Stines has been held without bond for over fifteen months. No trial date. Prosecutors haven't announced whether they'll seek the death penalty. Civil lawsuits proceed while the murder case sits in limbo.#MickeyStines #JudgeKevinMullins #ChristopherCohron #JenniferCoffindaffer #FBI #LetcherCounty #KentuckySheriff #JudgeRecusal #MentalHealthCrisis #WeekInReviewJoin Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISDOES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspodInstagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/tonybpodListen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872
Transcribe →Judge Sat Next To Murder Victim ONE WEEK Before Killing — Eric Faddis On The Mickey Stines Recusal Motion
Jan 1000:43:21Tap to summarizeFormer sheriff Mickey Stines shot and killed District Judge Kevin Mullins in his own chambers. It was caught on video. But now the defense has uncovered something that could derail the entire case — and attorney Eric Faddis is here to break it down.Video footage shows Special Judge Christopher Cohron, who was assigned to preside over the Stines trial, seated directly next to Judge Mullins at a Kentucky Judicial Commission on Mental Health meeting. That meeting happened seven days before Mullins was killed. Cohron never disclosed this relationship to either side. Now the defense has filed a recusal motion arguing that in a case where mental illness is literally the entire defense, having a judge who worked alongside the victim on mental health issues creates an appearance of bias that cannot be ignored.Cohron has already denied the defense's motion to unseal Stines' psychiatric evaluation. He blocked them from using it at the bond hearing, saying "a bail hearing is not a trial rehearsal." The defense is connecting those rulings to that video. Eric explains what the legal standard for recusal actually requires, why the non-disclosure matters, and what happens if the Chief Justice of Kentucky has to step in.We also cover the Nick Reiner case, where celebrity attorney Alan Jackson just withdrew and left a public defender holding a capital murder case with thirty seconds' notice. Two insanity defenses. Two courtrooms in chaos. Eric Faddis explains what's really happening.#MickeyStines #JudgeRecusal #ChristopherCohron #KevinMullins #NickReiner #InsanityDefense #EricFaddis #KentuckyLaw #TrueCrime #SheriffMurderThis video is for commentary and entertainment purposes only. All accused are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISDOES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspodInstagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/tonybpodListen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872
Transcribe →Former Prosecutor Eric Faddis: Should Judge Cohron Recuse Himself From Mickey Stines Murder Case?
Jan 900:15:15Tap to summarizeA former sheriff accused of killing a sitting judge. A special judge assigned to preside over the case. And now, a video that ties them together in a way nobody expected.Defense attorney and former prosecutor Eric Faddis joins us to analyze the recusal motion filed by Mickey Stines' defense team. According to court documents, Special Judge Christopher Cohron appeared in footage from a Kentucky Judicial Commission on Mental Health meeting — seated inches from District Judge Kevin Mullins — just seven days before Mullins was shot to death in his Letcher County chambers. The defense claims Cohron never disclosed this connection and is now arguing his impartiality cannot be trusted.This case already involves a sealed psychiatric evaluation, an insanity defense, a venue fight, and a defendant who's been held without bond for over fifteen months. The recusal motion adds another layer — one that asks a fundamental question: In a case where the victim was a judge and the defense is built entirely around mental health, can the presiding judge's undisclosed attendance at a mental health meeting with the victim be overlooked?Eric Faddis breaks down the legal standard under Kentucky law, what happens if Cohron refuses to step aside, and how this fight could reach the Chief Justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court. We also discuss the broader implications for judicial impartiality and what this case reveals about the challenges of trying a case where everyone in the system already knows each other.#MickeyStines #SheriffStines #JudgeKevinMullins #JudgeCohron #EricFaddis #JudicialRecusal #KentuckySheriff #LawEnforcement #CriminalJustice #CourthouseShootingJoin Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISDOES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspodInstagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/tonybpodListen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872
Transcribe →Kentucky Sheriff Mickey Stines Wants Judge Cohron OFF His Case — Undisclosed Video With Victim Revealed
Jan 800:20:28Tap to summarizeFormer Letcher County Sheriff Mickey Stines is fighting to remove the judge overseeing his murder trial — and the reason involves a video that was never supposed to surface. According to a defense motion filed December 29th, Special Judge Christopher Cohron appeared in footage from a Kentucky Judicial Commission on Mental Health meeting held September 12th, 2024. In that video, the defense claims, Cohron sat inches from District Judge Kevin Mullins for roughly two hours. Mullins' widow was also in attendance. Seven days later, Mullins was dead — shot by Stines in his courthouse chambers.The defense argues Cohron never disclosed this to the parties, creating what they call "an appearance of impropriety." In a case where Stines' entire defense rests on his mental state — insanity, extreme emotional disturbance, documented psychosis — having a judge with an undisclosed personal connection to the victim raises serious questions about impartiality.Cohron has already ruled against the defense on several key motions. He denied their attempt to unseal Stines' psychiatric evaluation. He blocked them from introducing that evaluation at the upcoming bond hearing. The defense is now connecting those decisions to what they discovered in the video.Under Kentucky law, judges must recuse themselves when their impartiality might reasonably be questioned. The Bartleys are betting this video clears that bar. If Cohron disagrees, they can escalate to the Chief Justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court.Stines has been jailed for fifteen months. No bond. No trial date. And now, no clarity on who will even judge this case.#MickeyStines #SheriffStines #JudgeKevinMullins #KentuckySheriff #LawEnforcement #JudgeRecusal #LetherCounty #CourthouseShooting #CriminalJustice #TrueCrimeJoin Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISDOES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspodInstagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/tonybpodListen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872
Transcribe →Sheriff Stines Snaps: Judge Mullins Murder, Paranoia & the Grand Jury Secrets Revealed | 2025 True Crime
Jan 400:31:24Tap to summarizeOn September 19th, 2024, the justice system in Whitesburg, Kentucky ruptured in the most shocking way imaginable: Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines walked into Judge Kevin Mullins’ chambers and opened fire, killing his longtime friend — just minutes after they’d shared lunch. The entire murder was captured on courthouse surveillance, leaving the community stunned and searching for answers.In this gripping episode of Hidden Killers, Tony Brueski is joined by psychotherapist and author Shavaun Scott to examine the psychological unraveling behind a sheriff killing a judge on camera. Was this an act of madness? A collapse under pressure? Or something far more calculated?Just three days before the shooting, Stines had been deposed in a civil case involving allegations of corruption and misconduct inside his own office. Investigators are now asking whether mounting legal pressure pushed him toward a breaking point, or whether he believed silencing Mullins would somehow change his fate.Bodycam footage captured immediately afterward shows Stines muttering paranoid claims like “you’re going to kill me,” even as he surrendered without resistance. Was this genuine psychosis, trauma, or an attempt to set the stage for an insanity defense?In the second half, Tony, Stacy Cole, Todd Michaels, and attorney Eric Faddis break down newly released grand jury transcripts revealing that key evidence — including a mental-health diagnosis the day before the shooting — was never presented to jurors. Intake records describing Stines as “actively psychotic,” footage showing visible paranoia, and behind-the-scenes prosecutorial decisions all raise a critical question: was justice compromised before the trial even began?This is the story of a sheriff’s psychological collapse — and the cracks in a justice system now forced to confront its own failures.#MickeyStines #JudgeMullins #HiddenKillers #TonyBrueski #CourthouseMurder #TrueCrimePodcast #MentalHealthDefense #GrandJury #EricFaddis #PsychologicalAnalysisWant to comment and watch this podcast as a video?Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspodInstagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/tonybpodListen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872
Transcribe →