FBI Expert Coffindaffer Breaks Down the Failure That Let a Sheriff Kill a Judge

Court filings in the Mickey Stines case reveal a chilling reality: everyone saw the breakdown coming — and no one had the power to stop it.

An elected Kentucky sheriff spiraled publicly. He called dead relatives on his phone. Lost weight rapidly. Stopped sleeping. Displayed paranoia. His own staff pushed him to see a doctor. The diagnosis? Acute stress reaction. The response? Send him home — with his badge, his gun, and his authority untouched.

Twenty-four hours later, Judge Kevin Mullins was shot nine times in his own chambers.

In this deep-dive, retired FBI Special Agent Jennifer Coffindaffer exposes the structural failures that allowed this to happen. 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.

We examine the civil lawsuit accusing sheriff’s office employees of failing to warn Judge Mullins, and their defense that Kentucky law imposed no duty to act. Is that legally sound? Is it morally defensible?

This isn’t just a tragedy — it’s a systems failure. One that raises terrifying questions about authority, mental health, and what happens when the person in crisis sits at the very top of the chain of command.

#MickeyStines #JudgeMullins #JenniferCoffindaffer #TrueCrime #SystemicFailure #MentalHealthCrisis #HiddenKillers #FBIAnalysis #KentuckyCase

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