This is Hidden Killers with Tony Brewski. Here now, Tony Brucey.

Started back on September 19th of 2024 in Whitesburg, Kentucky. Sheriff, Sean Mickey

Steins walked into his friends' chambers, the judge of the town, Judge Kevin Mullins. They just

had lunch together. They've been friends for quite some time.

And then he shot him dead in those chambers right after lunch together. The part, that part is

certainly not in dispute. It was all caught on courthouse surveillance. Three days earlier,

Steins had been deposed in a federal civil lawsuit, alleging misconduct

in corruption tied to his office. Prosecutors say he's guilty of murder. His defense argues

he was under extraordinary psychological strain, even raising the possibility of an insanity defense.

So before we get into the allegations of corruption, I want to start with the possibility of an insanity defense. So before we get into the allegations of corruption,

I want to start with the psychology of that breaking point. Chavon Scott, psychotherapist and author,

joining us to help break all this down. And as I always do, I got your books over here in my

little desk library. Nightbird, this is is your memoir which is very good which is

new and out wherever you get books and this also the minds of mass killers also available wherever

you get books so let's start with with all of the sheriff steins killed judge mullins on

camera that in itself from a psychological, what does it mean when someone in authority

commits violence in the most visible way possible in the judge's chambers where he knows there

are cameras, he knows he will be caught right after having lunch with him. Stein's deposition

just days earlier was connected to that

civil lawsuit about alleged sexual exploitation involving his deputy. How might the fear of

exposure psychologically push someone, or is this the push that pushed him towards this catastrophic

act? It's certainly a weird case, which is why everybody's talking about it, because you're right.

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