Kentucky Sheriff Mickey Stines has admitted in court filings that he shot and killed Judge Kevin Mullins in his chambers on September 19, 2024. Nine bullets. Seven of them fired while the judge was already on the ground. The entire killing was captured on video. But now Stines is claiming he had no control over his actions and his defense team is pointing to a rare neurological disease caused by bug bites as part of their explanation.

For over a year, no one could explain why a longtime sheriff walked into a judge's chambers and executed a man he had worked alongside for decades. Stines had served as Mullins' bailiff. They ate lunch together that same day. After a seven-minute private conversation behind closed doors, Stines locked the door and opened fire.

Court documents now reveal what was happening in the days before the shooting. Stines had lost forty pounds in two weeks. He was placing phone calls to dead relatives. He told staff that shadowy forces were coming to kill his wife and daughter. He made someone put a bulletproof vest on his wife. His own employees believed he was experiencing psychosis. An attorney warned Judge Mullins directly that Stines was losing it. The local police chief said he had lost his mind.

But here is the problem. The day before the shooting, Stines visited a doctor. According to medical records, he denied experiencing any psychosis or homicidal thoughts. The doctor diagnosed acute stress reaction and sent him home. Twenty-four hours later, Kevin Mullins was dead.

Now Stines is building an insanity defense that includes claims of California encephalitis, a tick-borne illness that can cause confusion and aggression. Whether this is a legitimate diagnosis or a legal strategy designed to avoid accountability remains to be seen.

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