‘We’re all shook’: Sheriff allegedly showed up to speak with judge alone in chambers and shot him dead, rattling mountain town

Insets, left to right: Shawn Stines (CBS/YouTube) and Kevin Mullins (Kentucky Court of Justice via AP). Background: Outside the Letcher County Courthouse in Kentucky (WHAS).

Insets, left to right: Shawn Stines (CBS/YouTube) and Kevin Mullins (Kentucky Court of Justice via AP). Background: Outside the Letcher County Courthouse in Kentucky (WHAS).

A Kentucky judge who was gunned down in his chambers by a local sheriff was allegedly “running a brothel” out of his courtroom, according to a witness from a separate criminal case, with her claim being played up as a “compelling defense” for the shooting in court.

“He does have some videotapes of some stuff in the judge’s chambers,” alleged witness Sabrina Adkins told police in an audio recording obtained by NewsNation from a criminal case involving one of ex-sheriff Shawn Stines’ old deputies, Ben Fields, who was convicted and sentenced this year to six months in jail — and nearly a decade of probation — for rape, sodomy, perjury and tampering with a prisoner monitoring device, according to The Mountain Eagle.