A Kentucky sheriff accused of shooting a judge in his office on Thursday was accused in a lawsuit filed earlier this week of failing to investigate allegations that a local sheriff sexually harassed women who were under house arrest.

Letcher County Sheriff Shawn Stines, 43, testified Monday in a lawsuit filed by two women, one of whom claimed a deputy forced her to have sex in the same judge’s chambers where the shooting occurred. The woman claims the deputy repeatedly sexually abused her for six months to avoid going to jail.

The lawsuit accuses the sheriff of “deliberate indifference due to inadequate training and supervision” of the deputy.

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Letcher County Sheriff Shawn Stines in his booking photo. Stines is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of District Judge Kevin Mullins. (Leslie County Detention Center via AP)

The statement came just three days before District Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, was shot multiple times at the Letcher County Courthouse following an argument with Stines in Whitesburg, Kentucky State Police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Stines was arrested without incident at the scene and charged with first-degree murder, police said. He is being held at the nearby Leslie County Detention Center, two counties away.

It is unclear what the two were arguing about and whether it was in any way related to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit stems from a case involving former deputy sheriff Ben Fields, who pleaded guilty in January to raping an inmate while she was under house arrest.

Fields, who previously worked as an assistant prison guard, was sentenced this year to six months in prison and then six and a half years of probation for rape, sodomy, perjury and tampering with a prisoner monitoring device, The Mountain Eagle reported. Three charges related to a second woman were dropped because she is now dead, having died of a drug overdose.

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District Judge Kevin Mullins (54, left) was allegedly 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)

Prisoners under house arrest must pay for electronic monitoring, and the women claimed Fields told them he would not make them pay for the monitoring if they did him “a favor,” the source said.

Fields deactivated the women’s devices and told the monitoring company that the bail conditions had been changed and the devices were no longer required. He then threatened the women with arrest in an attempt to force them to have sex with him, The Mountain Eagle reports.

The judge’s murder sent shockwaves through the small, densely populated Appalachian town. Whitesburg is the county seat with around 1,700 residents and is located about 233 kilometers southeast of Lexington.

Chief District Attorney Matt Butler spoke of an outpouring of sympathy as he and his office withdrew from the investigation, citing social and family ties to Mullins.

“We all know each other here. … Anyone from Letcher County would tell you that Judge Mullins and I married sisters and that we have children who are first cousins ​​but act like siblings,” Butler said in a statement from his office to the Associated Press. “For this reason, among others, I have already taken steps to impartiality to myself and my entire office.”

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The judge was killed Thursday in the Letcher County Courthouse in Kentucky. (Google Maps)

Mullins was a judge in the 47th Judicial District, where he presided over juvenile cases, city and county ordinances, misdemeanors, traffic violations, arraignments, probable cause hearings for capital crimes, lawsuits involving an amount in controversy of $2,500 or less, civil cases involving an amount in controversy of $5,000 or less, voluntary and involuntary mental health commitments and domestic violence cases, according to the court’s website.

He has served as a district judge in Letcher County since his appointment by former Gov. Steve Beshear in 2009 and re-election the following year. Mullins promoted substance abuse treatment for people involved in the justice system and helped hundreds of residents get into residential treatment, according to a program for a drug summit at which he spoke in 2022.

Louis Casiano of Fox News and The Associated Press contributed to this report.