The former Letcher County sheriff accused of shooting District Judge Kevin Mullins to death in September entered a not guilty plea in Letcher Circuit Court Monday afternoon. Special Judge Julia Adams explained why didn’t set a bond for Mickey Stines. “Given the implications of Marcy’s Law, community safety concerns, security concerns, the fact that the defendant is in fact charged with a capital offense, together with the provisions of Rule 402, paragraph one, the defendant shall not be admitted to bond at this time.” Adams told the defense team they can request an adversarial bond hearing with the trial judge, who hasn’t been appointed yet. After the eight-minute arraignment, defense attorney Jeremy Bartley spoke to the media. “We ask that everyone withhold judgement. Let the story be told in the courtroom, all right? What’s online, all these social media posts, everybody’s opinions on this case – it’s a grain of sale.” Bartley reiterated that he intends to use a “heat of passion” defense to reduce the case to manslaughter, but didn’t acknowledge Stines is guilty of that. He’s being held in the Leslie County Detention Center. ** WEKU is working hard to be a leading source for public service, and fact-based journalism. Monthly supporters are the top funding source for this growing nonprofit news organization. Please join others in your community who support WEKU by making your donation. The post Former Letcher sheriff pleads not guilty to murdering Letcher district judge appeared first on The Lexington Times.