(WKYT) – The former Letcher County sheriff charged in the shooting of a district court judge is appealing a decision to deny him bond.
Legal representation for Shawn “Mickey” Stines filed a brief with the Kentucky Court of Appeals on Monday, arguing that a judge erred in three ways in denying Stines’ request for a $50,000 bond.
The filing argues that the Commonwealth did not prove that guilt was evident, as is legally required to deny bail in capital cases; and that the court’s decision to affirm that the prosecution did so ignored testimony from Stines’ aunt that he was not in his normal state of mind leading up to the shooting and that it disallowed testimony from a physician who performed a psychological analysis on Stines that might have refutted the Commonwealth’s assertion of proof.
It also argues that the Commonwealth’s central piece of evidence to deny Stines bond, a video showing him shooting and killing Judge Kevin Mullins, was never authenticated or supported with testimony as is required by Kentucky’s rules of evidence.
Finally, the brief argues that the presiding judge did not issue a written statement explaining why they refused to reduce bond based on findings from Stines’ pretrial services report.
[READ THE ENTIRE FILING BELOW]