Attorney Eric Faddis on Mickey Stines Recusal BOMBSHELL: Can Judge Cohron Stay on the Case?
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
True Crime Today
3.3 • 907 Ratings
🗓️ 9 January 2026
⏱️ 16 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Mickey Stines case just got a whole lot more complicated — and we brought in defense attorney and former prosecutor Eric Faddis to make sense of it.
The defense has filed a motion to recuse Special Judge Christopher Cohron after discovering video footage showing him seated next to Judge Kevin Mullins at a Kentucky Judicial Commission on Mental Health meeting, seven days before Mullins was shot to death in his Letcher County chambers. According to the motion, Cohron sat inches from the victim for roughly two hours. Mullins' widow was in the room. Cohron allegedly never disclosed any of this to the parties.
Eric breaks down what the legal standard for recusal actually requires under Kentucky law — and whether this video clears the bar. We get into Cohron's rulings blocking the psychiatric evaluation from being unsealed or used at the bond hearing, and whether a reasonable observer could connect those decisions to what's in the footage.
We also cover the escalation path if Cohron refuses to step aside, the pending venue fight between prosecution and defense, and the death penalty question that's been hanging over this case for fifteen months with no answer.
This is the expert breakdown you need to understand what's really at stake — and what's likely to happen next. Eric Faddis has argued cases on both sides, and he pulls no punches.
#MickeyStines #HiddenKillers #EricFaddis #JudgeCohron #KevinMullins #RecusalMotion #KentuckyCrime #TrueCrimePodcast #InsanityDefense #CourthouseMurder
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/@hiddenkillerspod
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod
X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod
Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is Hidden Killers Live with Tony Brewski, Stacey Cole, and Todd Michaels. |
| 0:09.1 | Let's move on to another case. It also involves mental health. |
| 0:13.9 | Mickey Stein's case just hit a wall that nobody saw coming, and it has nothing to do with the facts of the shooting. |
| 0:20.6 | For those just catching up, |
| 0:21.6 | former Lecter County Sheriff Mickey Steins is charged with murder in the September 2024 |
| 0:26.8 | shooting death of District Judge Kevin Mullins. The killing happened in Mullins' own chambers. It was |
| 0:31.4 | captured on video. The defense isn't disputing that Steins pulled the trigger. They're arguing |
| 0:36.6 | it was that he was in an |
| 0:39.7 | active psychosis state, not legally responsible for what he did. But here's where it gets complicated. |
| 0:45.3 | The special judge is signed to preside over the case. Christopher Corrin just got hit with a recusal |
| 0:52.3 | motion. The defense discovered a video showing Corrin seated next to Judge Mullins at a Kentucky judicial commission on mental health. |
| 1:00.0 | The irony, I know, at this meeting, seven days before Mullins was killed, according to the motion. |
| 1:06.0 | Crone never disclosed this to the parties, and now the defense is arguing that the case where mental health |
| 1:12.4 | is literally the entire defense creates an appearance of bias that can't be ignored. |
| 1:18.3 | Krona's already denied the defense's motion to unseal Stein's psychiatric evaluation. |
| 1:23.6 | He blocked them from using it at the Bond hearing. He said, and I'm quoting, a bail hearing is not a trial rehearsal. |
| 1:31.1 | The defense is connecting those rulings to what they found in that video, and they want him off the case. |
| 1:38.8 | So what does this actually mean? |
| 1:41.3 | What's the legal standard for recusal in Kentucky? How unusual is it for a defense team |
| 1:46.9 | to go after the judge like this? And what happens if Crone says no to walk us through it? |
| 1:52.0 | We got Eric Fattis, defense attorney and former prosecutor, someone who's been on both sides of |
| 1:56.9 | motions exactly like this one. Eric, let's dive into this. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from True Crime Today, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of True Crime Today and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.