Kentucky sheriff who was accused of fatally shooting judge in his chambers indicted for murder



A Kentucky sheriff who was accused of fatally shooting a district judge in his chambers two months ago was indicted for murder Thursday.

Prosecuting attorney Jackie Steele said after a grand jury returned the indictment that he couldn't comment on an alleged motive, although police previously said Shawn “Mickey” Stines — then-sheriff of Letcher County — and Judge Kevin Mullins had argued just before the Sept. 19 shooting, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.

'Everything seemed fine between them. There was no clue that anything was wrong at all. You wouldn't have guessed there was the slightest problem.'

Judge Julia H. Adams received the indictment and set Stines’ arraignment for next Monday, the paper said.

Stines turned himself in after the shooting and was charged with first-degree murder, the New York Times reported, citing police. He retired as sheriff less than two weeks after the shooting.

Stines — who's accused of shooting Mullins eight times — pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.

The shooting was captured on surveillance video. You can view the surveillance clip here; it omits the actual shots being fired, and it's included in a larger video report about the shooting. Spectators cried out in the Morgan County courtroom as the video played during a hearing last month, WDKY-TV reported.

Kentucky State Police Detective Clayton Stamper testified that the full video of the shooting shows Stines using his own phone to make multiple calls, then using the judge’s phone to make a call, the Louisville Courier Journal reported, adding that the shooting followed.

Stamper testified that the calls were to Stines’ daughter, the Courier Journal noted, and he said the phone number of Stines' daughter had been saved in the judge's phone and was called before the shooting. Stamper also said Stines stood up from his chair in the judge’s office after looking at Mullins’ phone and shot him seconds later, the Herald-Leader said.

The shooting is particularly curious since Stines and Mullins reportedly had been decades-long friends.

Image source: Letcher County Sheriff's Office Facebook page (left); letchercounty.ky.gov (right)

What's more, the pair went to lunch at the Streetside Grill & Bar on Main Street just hours before the shooting, the Daily Mail reported. A restaurant employee told the outlet that Stines and Mullins ordered their usual lunch — both having chicken wings with salad.

"Everything seemed fine between them. There was no clue that anything was wrong at all," an employee said. "You wouldn't have guessed there was the slightest problem."

A woman who reportedly works for the Letcher County Sheriff’s Office also gave her phone to investigators for examination, WDKY said, adding that Stamper testified that she was one of Stines’ employees and believed she’d received text messages from Stines that noted what occurred at lunch and led to the shooting.

Under cross-examination, Stamper said that when Stines "was taken into custody, I was told by one of the other officers that were there that he made the comment, ‘They’re trying to kidnap my wife and kid,'" WDKY added.

More from the Herald-Leader:

The crime could be eligible for the death penalty if Stines is convicted because Mullins was a public official. Steele, who is prosecuting the case with Attorney General Russell Coleman’s office, said there had been no decision yet on whether to seek the death penalty against Stines if he is convicted. However, Stines’ attorney, Jeremy Bartley, has said that he does not think the murder is the appropriate charge in the case.

Bartley said at the Oct. 1 hearing that the evidence offered there pointed to the shooting as being an act of “extreme emotional disturbance” in reaction to something Stines had seen on Mullins’ phone.

There was no information at the hearing about what was on the phone. If a jury decided Stines acted out of extreme emotional disturbance, he couldn’t be convicted of murder, but rather first-degree manslaughter or a lesser crime. The death penalty would not be an option in that case.

You can view a video report here about Thursday's murder indictment.

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Surveillance video of Kentucky judge getting fatally shot in his chambers is shown during accused sheriff's hearing



Surveillance video of a Kentucky judge getting fatally shot in his chambers last month was shown during a hearing in the case of the sheriff accused of killing him.

Spectators cried out in the Morgan County courtroom as the video played last week, WDKY-TV reported.

'Everything seemed fine between them. There was no clue that anything was wrong at all.'

You can view the surveillance clip of the shooting here; it omits the actual shots being fired, and it's included in a larger video report about the shooting.

Former Letcher County Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines appeared before a judge last Tuesday afternoon for a probable cause hearing, WDKY said. State police said Stines, 43, fatally shot District Judge Kevin Mullins in his courthouse chambers in Whitesburg on Sept. 19.

Image source: Letcher County Sheriff's Office Facebook page (left); letchercounty.ky.gov (right)

Stines turned himself in after the shooting and was charged with first-degree murder, the New York Times reported, citing police.

Stines — who's accused of shooting Mullins eight times — pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.

Kentucky State Police Detective Clayton Stamper testified that the full video of the shooting shows Stines using his own phone to make multiple calls, then using the judge’s phone to make a call, the Louisville Courier Journal reported, adding that the shooting followed.

Stamper testified that the calls were to Stines’ daughter, the Courier Journal said. Stamper added that the phones have been sent to forensic teams for examination, the Courier Journal noted, adding that the daughter’s phone has not been examined. Stamper also said the phone number of Stines' daughter had been saved in the judge's phone and was called before the shooting, the Courier Journal reported.

However, Kentucky State Police Trooper Matt Gayheart told WDKY in a separate story that contrary to how it was stated in court, investigators won’t know if the number of Stines' daughter was saved in Mullins’ phone until forensic reports come back in a few weeks. But the call log reportedly showed her number had been called prior to the shooting, the station noted.

The shooting is particularly curious since Stines and Mullins reportedly had been decades-long friends. What's more, the pair went to lunch at the Streetside Grill & Bar on Main Street just hours before the shooting, the Daily Mail reported.

A restaurant employee told the outlet that Stines and Mullins ordered their usual lunch — both having chicken wings with salad.

"Everything seemed fine between them. There was no clue that anything was wrong at all," an employee said. "You wouldn't have guessed there was the slightest problem."

A woman who reportedly works for the Letcher County Sheriff’s Office also gave her phone to investigators for examination, WDKY said, adding that Stamper testified that she was one of Stines’ employees and believed she’d received text messages from Stines that noted what occurred at lunch and led to the shooting.

Under cross-examination, Stamper said that when Stines "was taken into custody, I was told by one of the other officers that were there that he made the comment, ‘They’re trying to kidnap my wife and kid,'" WDKY added.

Stines' lawyer also argued that the charges against his client should be lowered to manslaughter given Stamper’s testimony claiming the shooting was the result of “extreme emotional disturbance" and there's no evidence showing the shooting was planned.

Court documents indicated that the defense established probable cause in last Tuesday’s hearing, and the case is set to be heard by a grand jury, WDKY reported.

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Reversal of FATE: Steve Baker’s update on January 6 prisoners is ‘a good sign’



January 6 started as a chance for Trump supporters to innocently protest and quickly turned into a day that would change their lives forever.

Now, however, things might be taking a turn for the better.

“One J-sixer is seeing a reversal of fate,” Jill Savage of “Blaze New Tonight” explains.

“John Strand is actually one of the more, let’s call it, infamous stories, certainly one of the more high-profile cases of all the January 6 defendants,” Steve Baker tells Savage.

Strand was friend and bodyguard of Simone Gold — a doctor and attorney who was the deplatformed founder of the Frontline American Doctors. Gold had been accused of “disinformation” for recommending alternative therapies that were not part of what Baker calls the “approved narrative” regarding COVID-19.

Gold was scheduled to speak on January 6 at one of the six legally permitted events scheduled on the Capitol property that day.

“By the time they got to the Capitol, everything had gone to hell in a handbasket, and so there was nothing but chaos by the time they arrived. The breaches had already taken place. John Strand and Simone Gold did not participate in violence, they did not participate in breaching the Capitol building whatsoever,” Baker explains.

However, their fatal flaw was going inside the Capitol peacefully.

“She actually decided to deliver her prepared remarks there in the Rotunda. She climbed up on the Eisenhower statue, with John standing guard beside her, she delivered her remarks there in the great Rotunda of the Capitol, and then they peacefully left, just as so many other hundreds and thousands of people did,” Baker says.

Both Strand and Gold were “handed that infamous 1512 obstruction of an official proceeding felony.”

The felony carried up to 20 years of imprisonment.

Gold ended up taking a plea deal and pled down to a single misdemeanor. Judge Christopher Cooper sentenced her to 60 days in prison.

“John Strand decided he was not going to take this lying down, that he was going to be a warrior, and he, despite the odds being horribly stacked against him, he was going to go to trial and he did that,” Baker explains.

He was convicted on all counts, and he was sentenced to 32 months in prison.

“Now what’s happening is that because of the Supreme Court’s overturning the 1512 obstruction of an official proceeding charge against 355 defendants, him being one of those,” Baker says, “they’re shortening their sentences or letting them go.”

If they haven’t gone to trial yet, they’re not charging them with it.

“It’s especially a good sign because the Department of Justice has already announced that they want to figure out how to continue with that charge,” Baker explains. “But the point being, is it appears that the judges are pushing back against the DOJ.”

“We’ll take this as a good sign,” he adds.


Alex Jones’ Infowars to be shut down and liquidated to pay Sandy Hook victims’ families



In yet another attack on freedom of speech, a court-appointed trustee in Alex Jones’ bankruptcy proceedings has disclosed plans to effectively shut down Jones’ media platform, Infowars, and liquidate its inventory to pay some of the $1.5 billion he owes to the Sandy Hook victims’ families.

This news comes in the wake of the recent verdict that Jones’ personal assets would be liquidated to contribute toward paying the astronomical judgment for spreading “misinformation.”

Today he joins Glenn Beck to share his side of the story.

The END of Infowars: What's Next? | Glenn Beck INTERVIEWS Alex Jonesyoutu.be

“This is very historic,” says Jones. “The quote ‘families’ who are represented by high-power Democrat Party law firms, the same ones suing Elon Musk right now for defamation … went on CNN last week and said, ‘We do not want money. We want [Infowars] immediately closed.”’

“They don't want to sell the millions of dollars of inventory – books, films, T-shirts, supplements, water filters. They don't want anything; they want it immediately shut down, and they said ‘because we want to stop his speech,’” he tells Glenn. “It’s just outrageous how transparent this is.”

Jones recalls when two years ago, two judges, one from Texas, the other from Connecticut, found him liable for “failure to give any discovery.” However, Jones swears he “gave them everything,” but “there was just no evidence of what they said [he] did,” so he was declared “guilty in default.”

“I was not allowed to put on defense; I was not allowed to respond,” says Jones, adding that his lawyers “weren't allowed to [defend him].”

Jones says he agreed to an “orderly liquidation,” so that “the stuff actually gets sold off,” which might allow him to give his employees some severance.

However, “they immediately ran to the same judge that found me guilty without a jury trial in Texas and just in a summary hearing [with] no evidence said, ‘Seize all the assets,”’ Jones tells Glenn. “So now the federal trustee is in a fight with them trying to block them today, grabbing the bank accounts and having the sheriff’s department … come and lock the doors.”

When Jones informed the public of the situation, the media, once again, deemed him “a conspiracy theorist.”

“They've admitted in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, CNN – everywhere – that they're going to use this precedent against me in lawfare,” he says.

“I'm guilty of plenty of stuff, I made plenty of mistakes, but I did not say 99% of what they said I said, but I couldn't defend myself,” Jones admits, adding that he did say the shooting was “totally staged” but “never sent anybody to [the families’] houses” and “never peed on graves.”

According to Jones, after “the media [created] this illusion” that he was guilty of a long list of atrocities, they made it impossible for him to respond.

“Every nightly news channel” and “hundreds of publications” were “saying things I never said, [but] I was unable to respond, so that's what's so scary about the situation,” he says.

To hear Glenn’s response, check out the clip above.

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Sitting Oklahoma judge indicted in connection with 2 drive-by shootings, 1 of which occurred at in-law's ranch

Sitting Oklahoma judge indicted in connection with 2 drive-by shootings, 1 of which occurred at in-law's ranch



A sitting judge in Oklahoma has now been indicted in connection with two separate drive-by shootings in 2023, one of which occurred at a ranch owned by his brother-in-law.

Just before 3:30 p.m. on February 12, 2023, a car pulled up to a ranch in Bison, Oklahoma, about 75 miles north of Oklahoma City, and opened fire. The ranch's owner, Kenneth Markes, claimed bullets penetrated his home, causing damage to a window, a wall, and an oven. A bullet and five empty .40-caliber shell casings were later recovered from the scene. Though Markes' son was apparently home at the time, thankfully, no one was injured.

"Seeing a person in a window, and missing by a matter of inches, is not just a random shooting."

Two days after the shooting, Markes' brother-in-law, Brian Lovell — a 59-year-old associate judge in Garfield County, Oklahoma — reported that a firearm had been stolen out of his vehicle.

Seven months later, on the afternoon of September 11, a man was driving around in a white SUV near the intersection of Matamoros and Santa Maria in Austin, Texas, when he suddenly began pointing a weapon and firing at other vehicles. One witness described the suspect as "a white male, wearing a baseball-style hat and grey shirt."

The man allegedly fired at least five shots, and police found "several vehicles with projectile defect in them," according to the affidavit. Three .40-caliber shell casings were later recovered from the scene.

About an hour later, Judge Brian Lovell was arrested less than two miles from the intersection where the shooting occurred after his white SUV with Oklahoma plates allegedly rear-ended another vehicle twice.

"This SUV was driven by a white male, wearing a baseball-style hat and a grey shirt who was identified as Brian Noel Lovell ... by his Oklahoma Driver’s License," the affidavit said. Police also spotted "a black firearm in the front passenger floor board of Lovell’s SUV."

Lovell reportedly admitted to rear-ending the woman's vehicle twice but denied doing so intentionally. When police asked him about the shooting earlier that afternoon, his mind seemed to have gone blank. "Lovell advised he did not know why he would have shot his gun and he could not recall any part of the shooting incident," the affidavit said.

No one was injured either in the Austin shooting or in the minor vehicle crash.

In November, two months after the shooting in Austin and nine months after the shooting at Markes' ranch, ballistics tests revealed that the same gun, a Glock 23 .40-caliber, had been used in both incidents.

In February 2024, Lovell was arrested and charged with eight felony counts of deadly conduct — discharge of a firearm in connection with the Austin shooting. He was issued a $10,000 bond and released once it was paid appropriately. He has a hearing scheduled for this case in June.

On Friday, Lovell was arraigned on one felony count of use of a vehicle to facilitate the discharge of a firearm and an alternative felony count of discharging a firearm into a dwelling in connection with the shooting at Markes' home. Lovell did not submit a plea, so a not-guilty plea was submitted by the court on his behalf. He was assessed a bond of $25,000 and released on the condition that he steers clear of Markes and his family as well as all firearms.

Lovell's Oklahoma attorney, Stephen Jones, believes Lovell has been wrongfully accused. "It was a long time before the indictment was returned and that bears on him and his family. But he’s a strong character," Jones said. "And in my view, he’s innocent."

Jones also insisted that Lovell's defense intends to "attack the jurisdiction and soundness of the indictment." "From our own investigation, the evidence is insufficient to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt," Jones claimed.

Markes seemed less certain of his brother-in-law's innocence. "I had no idea that it could’ve been Brian Lovell," Markes said. "Seeing a person in a window, and missing by a matter of inches, is not just a random shooting."

Lovell has a court hearing in connection with the shooting at Markes' ranch in late August. Garfield County District Judge Paul Woodward previously claimed that Lovell had agreed not to hear cases until his case had been fully adjudicated.

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FBI agents PLANTED evidence at Trump Mar-a-Lago raid; judge postpones trial indefinitely



It doesn’t matter whether you hate or love Donald Trump. What’s being done to the former president by our government should disturb every single American.

Reports have revealed that FBI agents placed “cover sheets” onto allegedly classified documents found during its raid of Mar-a-Lago in order to make the photo they took of the documents far scarier.

The cover sheets indicated the highest levels of secrecy — and without question, the media then fell right in line and used the doctored evidence to slam Trump.

“This is never done,” Glenn Beck says, shocked.

Now, the federal judge presiding over Trump’s classified documents trial has delayed the trial indefinitely.

“They have postponed the document trial because they’ve said, ‘There are too many things here that don’t add up, there are too many things the FBI did that they never did nor should they have ever thought of doing,’” Glenn says, adding, “That is at best propaganda.”

Meanwhile, our envoy to Iran, Robert Malley, lost his top secret security clearance. According to whistleblowers, he allegedly transferred classified documents to his personal email account, downloaded the documents to his personal cell phone, and someone received them.

It’s now believed that a hostile cyber actor was able to gain access to those documents via his email and phone and obtained top secret information.

“These allegations have a substantial impact on our national security, and people should be held accountable, swiftly and strongly. But we’re not doing anything about him, we just downgraded his security clearance,” Glenn says.

“Are you kidding me? This guy is a spy for the Iranians. You’re trying Donald Trump, and you are using propaganda techniques to hype it up, and this guy, you won’t even tell the American people what we did,” he adds.




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NYC judge sets free thug accused of sucker-punching woman, breaking her jaw — then judge retires to Florida: Report



A New York City judge set free a suspect accused of sucker-punching a woman and breaking her jaw — then the judge retired to Florida days later, the New York Post reported.

Image source: YouTube screenshot

What are the details?

Prosecutors on Wednesday upgraded charges against 33-year-old Franz Jeudy in connection with the highly publicized, unprovoked March attack against 57-year-old Dulche Pichardo, a mother of three, the Post said.

The paper initially said Jeudy was charged with third-degree assault — a misdemeanor, which means he's not bail-eligible — and he was released.

District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a separate Post story that a grand jury soon returned an indictment for felony assault against Jeudy.

Prosecutors asked for bail-eligible second-degree assault and requested $25,000 cash bail or $50,000 bond for Jeudy — but Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Matthew Sciarrino rejected the request and let the suspect go, the paper said.

Image source: YouTube screenshot

Sciarrino on Friday told the Post he followed state law when releasing Jeudy, noting that "you can't set bail on someone” who “is a not flight risk.”

The judge — a Republican with more than 18 months left on his mayoral appointment — then retired Friday to Florida, the paper said, adding that a court spokesperson said Sciarrino filed his retirement papers in January and insisted the move south “has nothing to do with the bail decision in this case.”

Councilman Robert Holden — a moderate Queens Democrat in favor of tougher bail laws — told the Post he's glad Sciarrino is headed out of New York: "Good riddance to this soft-on-crime judge! We need judges with the backbone to put bad guys behind bars, not ones that let out the entire world and then flee to Florida, where the laws are tougher.”

Prior to the brutal punch Pichardo endured in March, Jeudy was arrested seven times on assault charges, WABC-TV reported. A previous Post story, citing police, said one of those priors took place in 2018 when Jeudy was charged with second-degree assault for an attack on a cop. The paper, citing sources, added that Jeudy also was collared for punching a security guard in 2019.

The Post reported that Jeudy was charged with misdemeanor assault in both cases, but prosecutors said the charges were later dismissed because Jeudy — with an apparent history of schizophrenia — was declared unfit to stand trial.

What else?

The attack against Pichardo came in the wake of a Blaze News report about multiple women saying they were randomly punched in the face and head on New York City streets.

Pichardo told WABC the suspect randomly punched her in the face around 5 p.m. March 26 while she was walking down Grand Avenue near Dean Street in Brooklyn.

“He just punched me on the right side here, very strong,” Pichardo told WPIX-TV, adding, “I was surprised. I said, ‘What’s going on? Why did you hit me? Why did you do it?’ I didn’t do anything. No reason to hit me."

Image source: WABC-TV video screenshot

She told WPIX her attacker never said a word.

WABC reported that Pichard's face was fractured in several places, her mouth was wired shut, and she was scheduled to drink food from a straw for six weeks. WABC added that Pichardo sustained permanent damage to her lower lip, three of her teeth were knocked out, and surgery might be necessary.

WABC said Pichardo is a school bus aide and was returning from work — just steps from home — when the attacker punched her.

More from WABC:

Her brother owns a restaurant across the street from where she lives. He and an employee chased the suspect down.

Yohan Flores says the suspect was standing cold and emotionless when they confronted him. The suspect denied attacking Pichardo.

Pichardo's brother and the employee followed the suspect for several blocks and stopped him from fleeing until police arrived.

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