Former Kentucky Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines was indicted Thursday in the shooting death of a judge in his chambers. 

A Letcher County grand jury indicted Stines on one count of murder of a public official on Thursday, according to a press release from Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman’s office. His arraignment is scheduled for Nov. 25 at noon, according to online court records.

Stines, 43, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder after authorities said he shot his longtime colleague, District Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, multiple times on Sept. 19 in an attack caught on surveillance footage.

KENTUCKY SHERIFF CHARGED IN JUDGE’S MURDER DID NOT PLAN KILLING, CAUGHT IN ‘HEAT OF PASSION’: LAWYER

Stines pleaded not guilty on Sept. 25. He formally resigned as sheriff at the end of September after receiving a letter from Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Kentucky General Counsel S. Travis Mayo urged him to do so. He is being held two counties away at Leslie County Jail, police said.

It is still unclear what motivated the former sheriff to pull the trigger. 

Kentucky State Police Det. Clayton Stamper testified at the preliminary hearing that the two men had eaten lunch together with a group in the hours before the shooting, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. 

According to Stamper, Stines attempted to call his daughter on his own phone, then on Mullins’ phone.

“Our investigators seized the two cellphones, and they’re being analyzed,” Kentucky State Police Trooper Matt Gayheart previously told the Daily Mail.

KENTUCKY SHERIFF CHARGED WITH FATALLY SHOOTING JUDGE DEPOSED IN RAPE-RELATED CASE DAYS EARLIER

District Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, left, was killed by Letcher County Sheriff Shawn M. Stines, 43, in his judge’s chambers, authorities said. (Kentucky Court of Justice ;Letcher County Sheriff’s Office)

“I was told that the judge made a statement to Mickey about, ‘Do we need to meet private in my chambers?’” Stamper testified, The Associated Press reported.

“It could be, but I don’t know that for a fact,” Stamper said when asked whether Stines was motivated to shoot Mullins based on what he saw on the judge’s phone.

“I talked to him, but he didn’t say nothing about why this had happened,” Stamper said, according to the AP. “But he was calm… Basically, all he said was, ‘Treat me fair.’”

NEW VIDEO SHOWS KENTUCKY SHERIFF POINTING GUN AT JUDGE BEFORE ALLEGED FATAL SHOOTING

Former Letcher County, Kentucky, Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines wipes his eyes as he listens to testimony during his arraignment at the Morgan County Courthouse in West Liberty, Kentucky, on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. Stines is accused in the shooting death of Ky. District Judge Kevin Mullins. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

When Stines was taken into custody, he allegedly told another officer, “they’re trying to kidnap my wife and kid,” Stamper said.

Days earlier, Stines was deposed in a lawsuit filed by two women, one of whom alleged that a deputy forced her to have sex inside the same judge’s chambers where the shooting took place. The woman claimed the deputy repeatedly sexually assaulted her for six months in exchange for staying out of jail.

The lawsuit accuses the sheriff of “deliberate indifference in failing to adequately train and supervise” the deputy.

This booking photo provided by Leslie County Detention Center in Kentucky on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024 shows Letcher County Sheriff Shawn M. Stines. (Leslie County Detention Center via AP)

Stines’ defense attorney, Jeremy Bartley, told People that the shooting “was not something that was planned and occurred in the heat of passion.”

“For us, the highest level of culpability should be manslaughter based on the partial defense of extreme emotional disturbance,” Bartley said.

The shooting in the city of Whitesburg has shaken the community of Letcher County, Kentucky, where Stines served as a bailiff in Mullins’ court before becoming sheriff in 2018. 

“We’re all in a state of shock over it,” Garnard Kincer Jr., Mullins’ friend and former mayor of Jenkins, told People. “It practically immobilized us. We just can’t believe it happened.”

Tune out the noise and know this: former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi is the force we need to fix the Department of Justice, and Americans can rest assured that weaponizing any part of our nation’s criminal justice system will soon come to a decisive end. 

Strong, intelligent and a dear friend and colleague, Bondi is a litigator I’ve always respected and admired. She served as Florida’s first AG for eight years after a successful 18 years as a county prosecutor where she followed the rule of law and actively listened to constituents who wanted strong and safe communities. 

As a former Democrat, she witnessed first-hand the elitism and divisive politics from grassroots to national policy before switching to the GOP in 2000.  Bondi championed anti-human-trafficking legislation while helping to bring the issue into the national spotlight, and she justifiably demanded the Department of Justice be diligent and transparent in their investigations of Hunter Biden. 

1.4 MILLION ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS IN US HAVE BEEN ORDERED DEPORTED, BUT HAVE YET TO BE REMOVED: OFFICIAL

I have great confidence that Bondi and President-elect Donald Trump recognize that the hallmark of justice is the equal application of the law, and that this month’s “red sweep” of the election is evidence that voters want politicians to stop the rhetoric and solve problems. 

When it comes to conservative criminal justice solutions, any crime rate data is meaningless if Americans don’t feel safe. One victim or any single crime-riddled community is one too many. And with the permeation of social media, all of it feels imminent to our own families and neighborhoods. 

While some Republicans are reacting to constituents’ fears with knee-jerk, ineffective tough-on-crime policies, history has shown us, responding to crime with overly punitive policies doesn’t make any of us safer. 

As a former U.S. attorney, I worked closely with the Trump administration to help craft and pass the landmark, bipartisan 2018 First Step Act, and I can tell you that thoughtful, conservative criminal justice solutions work.  

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Through improved federal prison programming, targeted sentencing reforms, and other First Step Act directives, public safety has improved. Of the 44,000 individuals released from federal prison under the First Step Act, only 9.7% have been rearrested or reconvicted — an incredible improvement from 46.2% prior to 2018. 

Just as the name implies, this landmark law was a first step for Trump and other conservative criminal justice advocates to use smart on crime policy solutions to improve public safety. Conservatives can build on that success by promoting thoughtful conservative policy ideas in our states, counties and at the federal level.  

No matter what your party affiliation, we can all agree that one victim is one too many and that criminals must be held accountable. Haphazardly creating new crimes or stiffer sentencing do not deter individual criminals — rather, it is the predictability of being caught that deters individuals from committing a crime.  

Further, boots-on-the-ground law enforcement in every capacity needs our support and resources. When forces are stretched too thin with outdated technology and policies, it’s no surprise that only 57.8% of murders and 26.9% of rapes are being solved. Victims deserve better. 

As a former U.S. attorney, I worked closely with the Trump administration to help craft and pass the landmark, bipartisan 2018 First Step Act, and I can tell you that thoughtful, conservative criminal justice solutions work.  

As America’s next attorney general, Bondi will empower Americans to work together to find solutions to solve criminal justice problems unique to their own communities and to stand their ground against any attempted weaponization of our justice system. 

With Pam Bondi at the helm, the DOJ is on notice that transparency and an equal application of the law is non-negotiable. And with that, conservatives have a real opportunity to be the grown-ups in the room and create criminal justice solutions that are equitable for all Americans today and for generations to come. 

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM BRETT TOLMAN

A Tennessee cheerleader, 13, was allegedly stabbed to death by a 15-year-old with a pocket knife and left alongside a dirt road. Now, prosecutors hope to try him as an adult in court.

Savannah Copeland met with the 15-year-old around midnight Oct. 22, when he allegedly attacked her and fled, according to a petition released by Knox County court Oct. 24. It is unclear how the two teens might have known each other. 

Michael Copeland, the victim’s father, told 8WVLT his daughter had been missing in Powell for several hours before he tracked her using her cellphone information and found her body.

FAMILY OF WOMAN WHO WENT MISSING ON CROSS-COUNTRY VACATION SAYS CRYPTIC TEXTS SENT FROM PHONE UNLIKE HER

The 15-year-old was arrested soon after the stabbing and charged with second-degree murder, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office said. 

A judge allowed the release of the teen’s name despite his age two days later and scheduled a Jan. 14 hearing on whether the juvenile suspect should be tried as an adult, 6 News reported. Fox News Digital is not naming the suspect until it is determined if he will be charged as an adult.  

MICHIGAN GIRL, 7, STABBED TO DEATH; 13-YEAR-OLD SISTER IN CUSTODY: POLICE

Savannah Copeland was a cheerleader and also practiced karate and gymnastics, her family wrote in her obituary. (Powell MAC Cheerleading/Facebook)

Fox News Digital could not reach the suspect’s attorney for comment at press time.

Copeland was not named in the department’s statement, but she was identified in a GoFundMe set up by her family, an online obituary, her cheerleading team and several news outlets that spoke with her family.

TENNESSEE POLICE SEARCHING FOR BRAZEN BURGLAR WHO RAPPELLED INTO BOWLING ALLEY AND STOLE CASH

Police arrested a 15-year-old in Savannah Copeland’s death and charged him with second-degree murder (Powell MAC Cheerleading/Facebook)

“I think it was a lack of compassion and a lack of empathy that drove the hand that took my daughter’s life,” the victim’s father told 8 WVLT. 

Copeland, a cheerleader with Powell Mac Cheerleading, was a talented student who also excelled in karate and gymnastics, her family wrote in her obituary. Her father told 8WVLT the teen had “spunkiness, eagerness and … a go-getter attitude.”