Mountain Top Media
House fire kills two in Pike County
GULNARE, Ky. — Two people are dead following a house fire early Sunday morning in Pike County.
The fire was reported just before 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning at a home along Brushy Road. Firefighters discovered two bodies inside the home.
The bodies have been sent to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsy and identification, but Kentucky State Police says foul play is not suspected.
The case remains under investigation.
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Judge orders former sheriff to undergo psychiatric exam prior to murder trial
WHITESBURG, Ky. — A judge has ordered former Letcher County Sheriff Shawn Mickey Stines to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, after his attorney announced he would pursue an insanity defense in his upcoming murder trial.
Stines, 44, of McRoberts, is charged with capital murder for the Sept. 19 shooting death of Letcher District Judge Kevin Mullins while the two men talked in the judge’s chambers.
The shooting was captured on security cameras, leaving no doubt as to who pulled the trigger. But last month, Stines’ attorney asked to present “expert evidence relating to a mental disease or defect or mental condition bearing on the issue of guilt and punishment.”
In response, Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman asked that Stines be transferred to the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center in La Grange for examination.
On Friday, Special Judge Christopher Cohron granted that request, ordering Stines to be committed to KCPC for up to 30 days. During that time, a psychiatrist or psychologist will evaluate whether he “lacked substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law.”
A defense expert will be allowed to witness the evaluation.
Following the exam, Stines will be returned to the Leslie County Jail, where he has been kept since his arrest.
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