As the top cop in Letcher County, Kentucky, Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines knew all about the inside of a jail cell. But he couldn’t even recognize one in the days after Stines allegedly murdered a local judge at his own desk, according to a social worker who examined him.

“Upon evaluation of Mr. Stines, it appears that he is still in an active state of psychosis,” her report from four days after the shooting states, adding that Stines was “unaware of his surroundings” and “only aware of things jail staff tell him.”

Stines’ defense team made the evaluation public as part of its effort to have the murder case against him thrown out, alleging that the first-degree murder indictment is tainted because prosecutors did not give the grand jury all of the medical records they requested.

It is t

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