Mickey Stines Case Stalls: Judge Had Undisclosed Meeting With Victim — FBI Exposes System That Failed

True Crime Today's week in review covers the Mickey Stines case — a recusal motion that's frozen proceedings and an FBI analysis of how this shooting was preventable.

Days before a critical hearing, Special Judge Christopher Cohron abruptly adjourned court. The defense had found video footage showing Cohron seated inches from Judge Kevin Mullins at a Kentucky Judicial Commission on Mental Health meeting — seven days before Mullins was shot to death in his chambers. Cohron never disclosed this. Defense attorneys Jeremy and Kerri Bartley argue that in a case entirely dependent on Stines' mental state, this undisclosed connection to the victim creates an appearance of bias that cannot stand. They cite Cohron's previous rulings blocking psychiatric evaluation from the bond hearing.

But we also examined what the court filings reveal about the days before the shooting. Everyone saw the breakdown coming. Mickey Stines called dead relatives on his phone. Lost weight rapidly. Stopped sleeping. Displayed paranoia. His own staff pushed him to see a doctor. Acute stress reaction was the diagnosis. The response? Send him home — badge, gun, authority intact. Twenty-four hours later, Judge Mullins was shot nine times.

Former FBI Special Agent Jennifer Coffindaffer exposed the structural failures. Kentucky has no red flag law. An elected sheriff cannot be suspended by subordinates. There was no mechanism to disarm him even as multiple people recognized he was in crisis. A civil lawsuit accuses sheriff's office employees of failing to warn Judge Mullins. Their defense claims Kentucky law imposed no duty to act.

Stines has been held without bond for over fifteen months. No trial date. No death penalty decision. Case frozen.

#MickeyStines #JudgeKevinMullins #TrueCrimeToday #ChristopherCohron #JenniferCoffindaffer #FBI #KentuckySheriff #SystemFailure #JudgeRecusal #WeekInReview

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