Kentucky cops probe lurid motive after judge is 'murdered in courthouse' by his close friend the sheriff as mystery motive confounds tiny mountain town

Cops are investigating a 'sex scandal' motive among other leads in the sensational death of judge Kevin Mullins who was allegedly murdered by the sheriff of his tiny Appalachian community, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal. Sheriff Shawn 'Mickey' Stines is accused of pumping eight bullets into his close friend after entering the judge's chambers at Letcher County Circuit Court in Kentucky for a private word and then shutting and locking the door. Sheriff Mickey Stines is accused of pumping eight bullets into his close friend Judge Kevin Mullins after entering the judge's chambers in Whitesburg, Kentucky Cops are investigating a 'sex scandal' motive among other leads in the sensational death of Judge Kevin Mullins Kentucky State Police, the lead agency in the investigation, confirmed to DailyMail.com that detectives were including the sex claims among many other lines of inquiry as a possible reason for the baffling killing. Stines told the court he did not have a lawyer and was given a public defender for the preliminary hearing on October 1 Stines and Mullins had worked together on drug policy iin the rural Kentucky county that has been badly hit by the opioid epidemic However, one thing is certain, as DailyMail.com discovered when it visited Whitesburg this week that the two men were indeed close friends of some 20 years – making the shooting even more mystifying. The judge's office is no longer from a crime scene, say police, but Letcher County Circuit Court has been closed since the horrific shooting and will not open until Monday They heard the two bangs, after Stines allegedly drew a weapon, then a flurry of shots.